IPR Summer School 2016 – a lot of learning and lots of new friends
The program kicked off with professor Martti Mäntylä’s lecture on the Internet of things (IoT) and IPR on Sunday afternoon. Professor Mäntylä presented some reasons for the development of the Internet of things and changes it has brought and will still bring with it. After the lecture there were cocktails served in a Get together -reception. What a nice start for the week!
On Monday Teosto welcomed all the students to their office in Urho Kekkosen katu to hear about copyright’s collective management in Finland. Interesting questions and conversation followed the speeches. After lunch we gathered to hear about China’s development in the IP field and future prospects. The legislative and judicial system in China seem to vary quite much from ours.
Next morning the students dived into Nordic IP, concentrating on copyrights and trademarks. Professor Jan Rosen from Stockholm University introduced EU copyright law using couple case examples and professor Rainer Oesch from the University of Helsinki made some additional comments on professor Rosen’s presentation. Dr. Max Oker-Blom presented some aspects specific to the Nordic countries on trademarks and professor Annette Kur continued on the topic combining it with European aspects. The afternoon was reserved for some unfair competition speeches.
The students had some leisure activities also, as we, Jenni and Netta, organized them a picnic. Since the weather was pretty unpredictable, we organized the picnic inside. There were some snacks and plenty of conversation, hopefully everyone had fun!
Wednesday it was time for the first Case clinic! The students got to practice their skills of argument in professor Martin Adelman’s Patent Case Clinic. Professor Adelman presented tough questions and made the students justify their claims. This was definitely good practice for the future! In the afternoon we got to hear about the Role of Judiciary in the Evolution of IP from professors Jens Schovsbo and Martin Adelman, justice Niilo Jääskinen and judge Jussi Karttunen. The topics varied from the coming UPC and the U.S. Courts on patent issues to the CJEU developing IP law and the national IP courts.
On Thursday we got back to Nordic IP and Case clinics. Professors Jens Schovsbo and Niklas Bruun presented the students some possible future scenarios for patents and professor Katja Lindroos guided the students through a real trademark case and challenged the students to come up with the answers themselves.
The week’s second visit was to the Startup Sauna in Aalto University on Thursday afternoon. In Startup Sauna we got a tour of their premises and also of Design Factory and Urban Mill. We learned a lot about startups, their challenges and possibilities. It was interesting to see the startup scene from engineer students’ and business students’ view.
On Friday it was the last day of the IPR Summer School 2016. The morning started with the last Case Clinic on Copyright. Professor Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan started shooting questions and asking the students for their opinions after his short introduction. Again, thinking and argument skills were put to test! The Case Clinics were definitely one of the week’s highlights, because you had to apply all the knowledge you had and present and justify your own opinions. The afternoon was reserved for summing up with Hanken School of Economics professor Nari Lee.
Overall the week included long days, a lot of learning and lots of new friends! What a successful Summer School, hopefully there will be many participants next year as well from all over the world!
Jenni Hänninen
Netta Luhtalampi
Authors worked as trainees at IPR University Center in summer 2016.
