Call for Applications | ‘CopyrightX: NLSIU’ – A Copyright Law Course offered by NLSIU in collaboration with Harvard Law School

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), in collaboration with the Harvard Law School (HLS), is offering a comparative copyright law course titled ‘CopyrightX: NLSIU’ in the upcoming March trimester. This eight week hybrid course will begin on March 4, 2024 and end by 30 April 2024. This is an affiliate course of the CopyrightX programme, offered by Prof. William Fisher and Prof. Ruth Okediji at  Harvard Law School, and will be open for candidates from across South Asia.

About the Course

The course will explore diverse legal aspects of copyright and its impact on different fields like art, entertainment and technology. This year, the course will be particularly discussing the impact of generative AI tools on copyright law and creativity. The course will also introduce debates on reforming copyright law. 

What makes the course at NLSIU unique is its equal focus on both the US Copyright law and the Indian Copyright law, aimed also to provide the participants a comparative perspective. The course will also discuss copyright law in other jurisdictions, wherever relevant. The course outline can be accessed from this link.

The course will be employing a unique pedagogical approach of combining recorded online lectures of Prof. William Fisher (Harvard Law School) and Prof. Ruth Okediji (Harvard Law School) and live online lectures of Dr. Arul George Scaria (NLSIU). This may be supplemented by discussions with copyright experts/ artists.

Course details

There will be three sessions (of two hours) per week. The sessions will be from 5 PM to 7:10 PM (IST). A minimum of 80% attendance is mandatory for the enrolled students to participate in the final examination. Students are required to watch all the recorded videos and are required to attend the live lectures as well. As a rigorous course, the course will have different in-class and take-home assignments for students and the details regarding the same shall be announced at the beginning of the course.

The final examination will be administered primarily by the Harvard Law School. The students who meet all the course requirements and pass the final examination will receive a certificate from the Harvard Law School.

Eligibility

Candidates from any countries in South Asia, who are currently enrolled in or completed an undergraduate, postgraduate, or doctoral research programme are eligible to apply. We particularly welcome applications from professionals including law practitioners, artists, data scientists and software developers, who are interested in learning about copyright law. However, as a course that demands extensive interactions, the enrolment will be limited and highly selective.

How to apply

Candidates interested in enrolling in the course should submit a formal request for enrolment through this link by January 31, 2024 (23:59 IST) along with the following documents:

1. CV
2. Motivation letter (clearly indicating why and how this course would be helpful for your career)
3. Copy of the student ID (if the candidate is a student currently enrolled in any full-time academic course in any public university in South Asia)

The selection shall be primarily on the basis of the CV, academic and professional background of the candidate, and motivation letter. During the selection process diversity of backgrounds shall be given due consideration.

Fee

The fees for enrolment in this course shall be Rs. 50,000/-. However, NLSIU and Harvard Law School have decided to offer a complete fee waiver for students currently enrolled in any public university in South Asia for any full-time academic course. Please note that this fee waiver is not applicable for candidates who are in employment (for example, candidates who may have taken leave from their job to pursue a full-time Ph.D. programme). 

Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this course, please write to Dr. Arul George Scaria ().

NOTE: Please note that shortlisted candidates have been contacted by the University. Due to the volume of queries, we will be unable to respond to individual queries regarding the application status. 

FAQs