Postgraduate Certificate Intellectual Property

• Patents & Designs: This unit will enable you to understand the legal regimes governing Patents and Designs. It will continue to update your knowledge of the law and apply legislation and judicial decisions to situations that may arise in the workplace. You will learn to use knowledge of prevailing Patents and Designs law to maximum advantage.
• Copyright & Trademarks: During this unit you will develop a systematic understanding of the legal regimes governing Copyright and Trademarks. It will continue to update your knowledge of relevant UK, European and International law and it will also enable you to independently apply legislation and judicial decisions to novel situations that may arise in a commercial context.

*Please note – all units include mandatory online e-activities.

Choose one of the following option units:

• International Intellectual Property Practice (Patent Attorney Route) 
• International Intellectual Property Practice (TradeMark Attorney Route)

​There is a common syllabus over these two units, focusing on national and international procedure in respect of securing and defending patent and trademark rights. If you chose the patent route, you'll have an additional taught component on patent drafting. For the trademark route, you'll cover competition-related provisions. Both units are taught by leading practitioners.

*Please note – all units include mandatory online e-activities.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Induction (online via Zoom): Monday 13 January 2025

For the teaching weekends the dates will be the same irrespective of whether you choose to study in-person or online. If you choose online study, pre-recorded lectures will be delivered to you during the teaching weekends, followed by live Zoom sessions. Otherwise, you will study in-person at Bournemouth University.

Teaching weekends:

• Thursday 6 February - Saturday 8 February 2025
• Thursday 6 March - Saturday 8 March 2025
• Thursday 3 April - Saturday 5 April 2025

Exam early May 2025 (exact date TBC)

For Intellectual Property we are looking for applicants who:

• Have a background in a law related discipline or demonstrate a passion for intellectual property
• Can evaluate legal situations and contribute to group discussions and debates
• Are self-motivated and competent in managing their own study and workload
• Can draw upon previous experience and expertise in order to fully contribute to this course.

You will also need to have excellent research skills and the ability to critically examine theory and practise surrounding the field of intellectual property. We encourage applications from hard-working individuals who are keen to enhance their career prospects in the legal and scientific professions.

We’ll be selecting the candidates for this course by looking at their applications. There are no interviews or additional selection activities. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining BU. For more information, take a look at our post graduate how to apply pages.

The application deadline for UK, ROI and CI students applying to study this course in January 2026 is December 2025 (exact date TBC). 

There is no deadline for International students to apply but if you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course. 

December and January is one of our busiest application periods and therefore it may take us a little longer to process incoming applications. For courses with a January start date, we recommend submitting your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject or appropriate training and/or experience. 

If you lack the formal academic qualifications needed to enter a postgraduate or post-experience degree, there are several alternative routes to follow - some based on experience. Contact the Future Students Enquiry Team for more information.

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

• India: Bachelor’s degree (three years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%.
• Nigeria:  Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:4
• China: Chinese Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with 65% or above 
• Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0
• Ghana: Bachelor's degrees from University of Ghana or Legon with a grade of 2.00 or above, or from Cape Coast with a grade 2.5 or above 
• USA: US Bachelor’s degree (four years), with a 2.5 GPA or above 

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with minimum 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in speaking, listening and reading, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level. 

Graduates from our Postgraduate Certificate in Intellectual Property are working in various roles, such as:

• Commercial Manager
• Intellectual Property Consultant
• Patent Executive
• Patent Attorney.

They have gone on to work for a wide range of organisations, including the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the UK Intellectual Property Office, the Institute of Trademarks Attorneys, Leanman Brown, Marks & Clerk, Schlich & Co.

The course carries 60 Master’s-level credits, which can subsequently build up to a PG Diploma (120 credits) or LLM in Intellectual Property (180 credits). Find out more about postgraduate study at BU.

What's included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Our fees commitment means your tution fees are fixed at the price quoted. 
• ​A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, intregrated social media and advanced video features.
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
• Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances.
• Free software download to your personal device of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus while you are studying, as well as access to applications provided on AppsAnywhere, subject to licensing and compatibility restrictions.
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

If you need to repeat one or more units during the course of your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full time fee.

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

• You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
• You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries to eligible students who are beginning their studies at BU. Please visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/funding for details on living costs, budgeting and paying your tuition fees.

Professor Dinusha Mendis is Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law and Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM). She joined Bournemouth University in 2011 as Senior Lecturer in Law and was appointed Associate Professor in November 2013 and Professor in November 2016.

Dinusha's research focuses on the digital aspects of copyright, copyright licensing and digital copyright policy as well as considering the challenges to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) as a result of Emerging Technologies.

In 2018, Dinusha was awarded a project by the European Commission (as Principal Investigator) to conduct research into the 'Intellectual Property Implications of the Development of Industrial 3D Printing'. The project awarded in June 2018 was completed in April 2020 in collaboration with partners from UK, Germany, Austria and Finland.

Currently, Dinusha is leading a 4-year project for the EU Intellectual Property Office on the enforcement of intellectual property law and is involved in researching and publishing on the intellectual property implications relating to AI, deepfakes and the metaverse.