Overview
“CopyrightX: Comparing U.S. and European Copyright Law and Policy (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany)” is a 14-week course taught by Diana Liebenau in the CopyrightX network.
CopyrightX is a course concept developed and taught by Professor William W. Fisher at Harvard Law School. It is hosted and supported by the HarvardX distance-learning initiative and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Through a combination of pre-recorded lectures, weekly readings of court cases and seminar discussions, students examine and assess the ways in which US copyright law seeks to stimulate and regulate creative expression. CopyrightX is a unique networked course that consists of a residential course at Harvard Law School, an online course, and a network of affiliated courses offered by several universities and other institutions around the world. “CopyrightX: Comparing U.S. and European Copyright Law and Policy” is one of these affiliated courses; it particularly emphasizes comparative aspects between European and U.S. copyright law.
Diana Liebenau received the “Innovative Teaching Award 2024” for “CopyrightX – Comparing U.S. and European Copyright Law and Policy”. Between 2022 and 2023, the project was generously supported by the “Fund for the Promotion of Teaching” of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany.
Pedagogy
Each week before class, students watch a pre-recorded lecture by Professor Fisher (approximately 90 minutes). Students are also required to read the materials provided. In class, we will discuss case studies which explore in more depth the law and theories introduced in the recorded lecture and the readings. Instead of distributing an outline or powerpoint slides, the course uses mind maps on both theory and law to summarize the course takeaways. An AI chatbot trained on an extended syllabus of the course helps students to digest their readings. The course encourages students to critically engage with the chatbot.
Whereas German law school classes typically focus on what the law is rather than what it should be, CopyrightX takes a different approach. Classes on theory and law alternate. The course has a strong focus on policy to enable students to participate in recent debates on intellectual property with an opinion informed by theory.
The course employs reading materials that are in the public domain; the videos and mind maps are freely accessible on the internet. With their help, unique case studies drawn from the vast international CopyrightX network are discussed in class, so that topics that typically get little coverage in European copyright classes get featured, for example, traditional cultural heritage. The course is about US copyright law, including comparative angles.
CopyrightX takes the approach that students from all over the world can learn from the same Harvard syllabus, but bring in their own perspectives. Accordingly, CopyrightX encourages students from different backgrounds to attend. Any student at LMU can attend the Munich course regardless of whether they have taken Intellectual Property classes – and in fact, any law class. We often have students with computer science or political science degrees. The open format requires, however, more formal rigor than is generally expected in German law classes: Students need to register, regularly attend (not missing class more than twice) and diligently prepare.
Finally a law class at a German law faculty in English: The language of instruction is English only. CopyrightX is not a language course but instead teaches substantive law.
CopyrightX is a networked course so that residential, online and affiliated courses are designed to run in parallel. Logistically, this means that the Munich course takes place in the U.S. spring semester, which falls mainly in the semester break between end of January and the beginning of May. Substantially, this means that there may be an opportunity (not an obligation) to interact with the broader network through webcasts with invited speakers.
Syllabus
- Week 0 – Introduction to the US Legal System (with Respect to Copyright)
- Week 1 – The Foundations of Copyright Law
- Week 2 – Fairness and Personality Theories
- Week 3 – The Subject Matter of Copyright
- Week 4 – Welfare Theory
- Week 5 – Authorship
- Week 6 – The Mechanics of Copyright
- Week 7 – The Rights to Reproduce and Modify
- Week 8 – The Rights to Distribute, Perform, and Display
- Week 9 – Fair Use
- Week 10 – Cultural Theory
- Week 11 – Supplements to Copyright – Secondary Liability and Para-copyright
- Week 12 – Remedies
- Week 13 – Exam Review
Students need to watch the recorded lectures and do your readings each week prior to class. The course is taught in person. Attendance is mandatory.
Registration
Registration and regular attendance are mandatory. Students are admitted to the course on a competitive basis.
Two-stage registration process:
- Enroll in the Moodle course using the enrollment key published in the faculty list.
- Upload your CV and transcript of records following the instructions on Moodle.
Deadline: The deadline is closed for 2025. The application for CopyrightX 2026 will open in November 2025. CopyrightX 2026 will take place between the end of January and the beginning of May.
Exam information
The course is extracurricular only.
LL.M. and Erasmus students cannot take this course for academic credit.
State exam students cannot take this course to fulfil the mandatory language requirement according to Ausbildungs- und Prüfungsordnung für Juristen (JAPO).
The exam will be a take-home exam. Exact start and end times as well as more details TBA. You will write the official HarvardX exam and will be issued an official certificate.
