www.law.uga.edu

2013 Academic Program

The following courses will be offered in the 2013 spring semester

Comparative Intellectual Property Law (3 credits)
taught by Georgia Law Professor Joseph S. Miller

US IP laws (copyright, patent, trademark) share roots with Europe's IP laws, and the two overlap considerably. There are some domains, however, that highlight the different conceptual emphases of these systems. This course focuses on those topics, contrasting US law's utilitarian approach with the EU's greater emphasis on natural-law foundations. Specifically, after a general introduction to the structure and sources of IP law in the US and EU systems, we will compare US and EU approaches to the following regulatory challenges for IP law: 1. Geographical Indications (Trademark); 2. Moral Rights (Copyright & Patent); and 3. Ornamental Designs of Useful Articles (Copyright, Patent, & Trademark). We will conclude with a short study of the TRIPS agreement (part of the larger WTO structure) and the use of its dispute settlement procedure to adjudicate one nation's claim that another nation's IP laws fall below the internationally agreed minimum requirements.

The IP Law Survey is strongly recommended, but not required, as a prerequisite.

Comparative Constitutional Rights (3 credits)
taught by Georgia Law Professor Joseph S. Miller

All rights-protective democratic systems of government have to deal with the problem of balancing the civil rights and liberties of individuals against the power of legislative majorities to govern. This course examines how different legal systems grapple with this dilemma. It does so by considering how different constitutional texts, governmental structures and social and legal traditions shape juridical responses to common questions about rights. The course will begin with a basic introduction to the legal systems of various countries. We will then read English-language translations of cases from different legal systems that address similar issues. The readings will include hate speech cases from Germany, Israel and the United States; religious freedom cases from Turkey, France and the United Kingdom; abortion cases from Germany, France and the United States; and political speech cases from Israel and Turkey. The course will be evaluated through an open-book, in-class final examination.

European Union Law (3 credits)
taught by Oxford Professor Cathryn Costello

Designed to enable student to understand EU legal system and institutions as they evolve. Experts from Brussels teach discrete parts of the course. Topics include: introduction to the history and nature of the European Union (EU); law-making and administrative institutions and processes in the EU; economic sectoral policies, including competition and state aids, transport and agriculture; the internal market, including the freedoms (movement of goods, workers, capital, services); harmonization of national laws process, including company law, intellectual property, tax; external economic trade policy (common commercial policy); the impact of the Single European Act and the Treaty on European Union, including the expanded economic, commercial, social and political scope of the EU; the role of the European Economic Area.

Supervised Research Tutorial (3 credits)

This course is modeled on the format of the justly renowned Oxford tutorial. Each tutor will meet periodically with a small number of students. Meetings will be devoted to planning or revising the students' individual research papers, to be completed by the end of the semester. Law students will participate in groups of three or four with their individual tutors (professors). Listed below are the two Oxford professors who are currently supervising research tutorials, their general subject areas, and some of the research and writing projects prepared under their guidance in prior years.

• Professor Anne Davies: Comparative Labor and Employment Law & Administrative Law 

  Genetic Discrimination in the Workplace

  A Comparative Study of Redundancy/Layoff Laws

  Labor Issues in Regional Trade Agreements; Comparing the EU and NAFTA/NAALC

  Privacy and the Media: A Comparison of Laws in the United States and the United Kingdom

  Protection for Freedom of Religion in the United State and the United Kingdom
  

• Professor Elizabeth Fisher: Comparative Risk Regulation, Environmental Law and Regulatory Subjects

  Promotion of Collaborative Approaches Between Industry, Citizens and Government in EU and US Risk Regulation

  A Comparison of US and UK Regulatory Strategies Concerning Contaminated Land

  A Comparison of the Ability of States in the US and EU to Take Measures in Circumstances of Scientific Uncertainty When it Infringes the Dormant Commerce Clause/Article 28

  Trading Spaces: the United States and United Kingdom 's Approach to Ergonomic Injuries

  A Smoking Look at Federalism: Public Smoking Regulation in the United States and the United Kingdom