Postgraduate Certificate Intellectual Property

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Part-Time

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This part-time course provides a development opportunity and will increase your prospects and employability by giving you practical skills and theoretical knowledge that firms and Intellectual Property departments, alike, are demanding.

It is designed to give a detailed overview of substantive intellectual property law. On successful completion of this course, you will obtain full exemptions from the foundation level examinations for qualification as a patent attorney or trade mark attorney in the UK (IPReg/CIPA/CITMA). Please indicate on your application form if you want to follow the patent attorney or trade mark attorney path.

You can complete this course whilst in full-time employment; more than 80% of our students are sponsored by their employers. If you do not have prior legal knowledge you will be supported by a range of online activities relating to foundational principles of law (such as English legal system, contract law and tort).

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Key information

Next start date:

January 2020

Location:

Bournemouth University, Lansdowne Campus

Duration:

Attendance required on three weekends, supported by distance learning between weekends and one exam attendance

Accreditations:

Intellectual Property Regulation Board

Required subjects:

Law, Accounting, Management, Business or Marketing (if you intend to select the Trade Mark Attorney Route); Law, Sciences or Engineering (if you intend to select the Patent Attorney Route)

Entry requirements:

Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject or appropriate training and/or experience. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with minimum 5.5 in each component or equivalent. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

Accredited by:

Course details

The course is delivered over five months, beginning January with an extensive programme of online work (e-activities) and attendance at Bournemouth University (Thursday to Saturday).

Download the programme specification (pdf 579kb)

Attendance dates

Option units

Choose three of the following option units:

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.

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.

Course delivery

The course starts in January but the first weekend of attendance isn’t until February – you will have online work to complete from January. In addition, prior to the attendance days where you will attend lectures and workshops, which will be interspersed with master classes of visiting speakers, you will be expected to undertake preliminary readings and participate in online e-activities.

You’ll need to attend on three sets of attendance dates at Bournemouth University as well as for one exam. In between these attendance days, you'll be supported by online work. You'll be expected to devote on average about 12 hours per week to complete the course.

Programme specification

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.

Your application

What we’re looking for

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.

Selection methods

How and when to apply

There is no application deadline for this course. However, 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.

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

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:

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.

International entry requirements

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

IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with minimum 5.5 in each component 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.

You can also find further details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our international entry requirements page.

Careers

Example job roles and employers

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.

Further study

Costs and fees

You can find full information about the deposits required and how to pay your fees in our postgraduate fees and funding section.

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per annum. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

No hidden extras

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:

One set of study-related consumables such as a memory stick/ DVD
Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity
Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement.
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
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
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme
Disability and additional learning support
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional cost

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:

Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
Optional fieldwork travel, outdoor wear and footwear (where applicable)
Text books, 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.

Repeat units

Deposits

International (non-EU) students need to pay a non-refundable £2,000 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.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. Please note that staff can change.

Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachmann – Programme Leader

Sascha-Dominik Bachmann joined Bournemouth University as Associate Professor in August 2013. His teaching and research focus is on international legal subjects and work on research projects involve colleagues from the UK, South Africa, Israel, Sweden, the USA and Australia. Prior to joining Bournemouth Sascha-Dominik worked as a Senior Lecturer in International and European Law at the University of Portsmouth and as a Reader in International Law at the University of Lincoln.

Sascha-Dominik was educated in Germany (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München), South Africa (Stellenbosch University and University of Johannesburg) and the United Kingdom (University of Portsmouth). As a Lieutenant Colonel in the German Army Reserve he served as a peacekeeper in the Balkans (Kosovo) on three occasions while completing his LL.D with the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Trained as a Mountain Warfare Officer, Sascha-Dominik also had the privilege to be seconded to the 23rd Marines as an exchange officer as part of the official US-German Reserve Officers Foreign Exchange Officer Program. Prior to completing a LL.M at Stellenbosch University, he was admitted as a German Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law) at the High Court of Munich. Particular research interests are in the fields of Human Rights Litigation, Historical Justice Litigation, Holocaust/Shoa, Terrorism, Law of Armed Conflict, Hybrid Threats and holistic responses to new 21st century security threats.

Particular research interest are in the fields of Human Rights Litigation, Historical Justice Litigation, Holocaust/Shoa, Terrorism, Law of Armed Conflict, Hybrid Threats and holistic responses to new 21st century security threats. I am at the moment working with colleagues from the Swedish Defence University and the UK Armed Forces on Hybrid War and how NATO and the West is confronting Russia's aggressive war in Ukraine.

View Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachmann's staff profile