After successful completion of the course, students are able to:

• gain an understanding of the most important business laws (company law, contracts, e-commerce, IP laws, data protection, Unfair Competition Act)
• gain an understanding of intellectual property rights, especially patents and patent research, as well as of (software) licensing.

IMPORTANT: This lecture is only for students assigned to the supplementary curriculum "Extended Studies on Innovation" offered by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c)! For further information, please visit http://i2c.tuwien.ac.at/home/are-you-a-student/how-to-apply/ 

 ***ECTS Breakdown***

2 ECTS = 50 hours

25      Lectures (prüfungsimmanent)
25      Group work and case studies

***Content decription**

Part I: Business Law (lecturer: Wolfgang Graf)

In the first part of this lecture, the following topics will be worked through:

1. Company law: corporations, partnerships, entrepreneur; foundation of corporations, companies register; financial assistance rules; shares, vesting of shares, transfer of shares
2.  Contracts: conclusion of contracts; form requirements; securities; specific IT-related contracts like SLA Service level agreement or Software licenses agreement; breach of contract; warranties; damages; product liability
3.  E-commerce: overview and case studies
4. IP laws (trademarks, copyrights und design patents): overview and case studies
5.  Data Protection: overview on European and national rules; cases
6. Unfair competition act: overview and case study

Part II: Patent Right and Patent Research (lecturer: representatives from Österreichisches Patentamt)

1. representatives from Österreichisches Patentamt will explain the legal aspects of intellectual property (including patents, trade marks and design)
2. In 1:1 Sessions teams can ask questions on intellectual property related to their projects

Part III: Licensing (lecturer: Wolfgang Graf)

The third part will deal with the Austrian legal situation concerning licensing, especially software licensing. The most commonly used types of (software) licenses are discussed. The lecture will be completed with practical exercises.

***Lecturers***

Dr. Wolfgang Graf is an attorney-at-law in the Viennese law firm Graf Patsch Taucher. Mr. Graf holds degrees from the University of Vienna law school (Mag.iur., Dr. iur.) and the Pennsylvania State University (LL.M.). He is admitted to practice law both in Austria and New York. Mr. Graf specializes mainly in corporate and mergers & acquisitions. He is a lecturer at the University for Applied Sciences Wr. Neustadt and at the University for Applied Sciences Burgenland and also author of a book on data protection law and several articles on corporate law.

representatives from Österreichisches Patentamt: further information, here.

Lectures, group work and case studies

IMPORTANT: This lecture is only for students assigned to the supplementary curriculum "Extended Studies on Innovation" offered by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c)! For further information, please visit http://i2c.tuwien.ac.at/home/are-you-a-student/how-to-apply/

• Attendance and active participation at lectures
• Group work and presentation of results