SELS Dresden on Intellectual Property Law

Another tradition awaited our participants on Saturday morning as we were leaving the beautiful city of Dresden behind us and headed towards the boarder to Czech Republic to hike in the renown Saxon Switzerland mountains. As true adventurers we decided to hike through the infamous “Wilde Hölle – Wild hell” where the climbing skills of our participants were put to test. With a little help of some friendly fellow mountain hikers every steep hill and narrow canyon was conquered only to finally be rewarded with a beautiful view of the steep mountain hills of the Saxon Switzerland mountain range. Freshly strengthened the way down lead us around breathtaking views and steep stairs put into the rough walls of the mountains. Finally, we arrived to the beautiful little town of Schmilka where everyone got to enjoy some cake, coffee and beers.

To reach the train to return to Dresden the Elb river was crossed on a ferry offering some last views on the steep cliffs of the Saxon Switzerland. Back in Dresden some Pizza was enjoyed. Followed by some drinks and finally dancing in the club. Before everyone had to come to realisation that this adventures week is sadly already over again and the final goodbye hugs were due.

On Friday, the academic programme was concluded with a negotiation exercise where our participants could apply the knowledge they had acquired throughout the week. In exciting rounds of negotiations, they represented two parties and negotiated a deal on the use of celebrity images. The jurors of the Institute of International Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law (IRGET), whom we thank for the continued support of our project, were impressed by the arguments which the students were able to put forward in such short time.

After some free time, the programme continued with the Certification Ceremony at the well-known law firm Battke Grünberg. Dr. Daniel Schöneich, Partner at Battke Grünberg and his colleague Dr. Marie Arendt welcomed our participants at their beautiful office in the city centre of Dresden. Dr. Daniel Schöneich gave an insight into his daily work and spoke about the advantages of working at a medium sized law firm as well as the opportunities which lay in the field of Intellectual Property.

In the evening, one of the highlights of the social programme awaited our participants. A visit to the world-famous Semper Opera with the play "Il viaggio a Reims". For dinner the famous German Curry Wurst was served just around the corner.

The academic programme of the Summer ELSA Law School 2022 continued on Thursday morning with a lecture by Natasha Mangal, Associate Professor, CEIPI, University of Strasbourg on Copyright Law. The next lecture on the topic of Privacy & Publicity was given by Kerstin Schmitt from the law firm Schertz Bergmann Rechtsanwälte, Berlin.

After another delicious lunch at the University Mensa the participants found themselves in small groups of two to three and used the afternoon to prepare for the negotiation exercise which took place the following morning.

In the evening, one of the highlights of the programme, the Gala Evening, began with a glass of champagne on the terrace of the restaurant Dresdner Aussicht located on one of Dresden's many hills. Beautifully dressed, many photos were taken with the picturesque old town and the surrounding hills of Dresden in the background. After a beautiful sunset, our participants enjoyed the delicious buffet with traditional German and Saxon dishes.

The Summer ELSA Law School in Dresden aims to give its participants a good insight into the culture of Germany and Saxony. Many people all over the world associate Germany with great cars. That's why we decided to visit the Volkswagen Gläserne Manufaktur on Wednesday morning. Our participants were able to experience the production process of a Volkswagen automobile and gain an insight into what awaits us in the future of mobility.

From the Gläserne Manufaktur our participants went to the university halls to enjoy an introductory lecture to Patent Law held by JProf. Katharina Kaesling from the Dresden Law School followed by a workshop on Patent Law held by Dr. Sven Hetmank.

In the afternoon our participants enjoyed some free time which was used to do some more sightseeing, shopping and simply to relax.

It has become a tradition for us to spend the Wednesday night at the Bowling Arena. Whilst some of the participants playing for the first-time others were competing for the highest score.

The academic programme on Tuesday was all focused-on Trademark Law. It started in the morning with an introductory lecture to European Trademark Law held by Jette Nordemann, LL.M from the law firm Noerr LLP and was followed by a workshop on Trademark Law by Jana Lutter from the Dresden Law School.

In the late afternoon our participants had the great honour to be welcomed by Dr. Claudia Schlüter, Chancellor of the Palucca University of Dance Dresden, who spoke about ballet from the point of view of intellectual property. A highlight of the day was the opportunity to get a deep insight into this unique university including a visit to its library and its costume room.

In the evening, the participants enjoyed a traditional German dinner served in Dresden's oldest student club, the Gutzkowclub. Afterwards, the musical talent of our participants was put to the test during a fun round of karaoke.

Last Monday the 6th edition of the Summer ELSA Law School in Dresden on the topic: "Intellectual Property - a(n) (un)justified Monopoly?" was officially opened by Ms Jana Lutter and Dr. Sven Hetmank from the LL.M. IP International Studies in Intellectual Property Law at the Institute of International Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, who supported us in organising the academic programme of the week.

As every year, we were honoured that Dr. Matthias Meyer, Partner Bird & Bird Deutschland committed his support for our project, and we were delighted to welcome his colleague Dr. Xinming Chen who gave the keynote speech "The General Framework of IP Law". We are extremely grateful to Dr. Matthias Meyer and Dr. Xinming Chen and the whole Bird & Bird Deutschland team for their continued support of our programme.

After a lunch break, the academic program continued with a lecture on the relation of Law and Economics held by Helena Kowalewska Jahromi, LL.M. The lecture was followed by a city tour through the beautiful old town of Dresden.

The evening was spent with a National Food and Drinks night where all participants got the chance to share some of their local and national specialities and thereby bring their culture closer to one another.

Sunday, the day of departure and thereby the last day of the 5th edition of the ELSA Dresden Law School: "Intellectual Property - a(n) (un)justified monopoly?", meant for us as Organising Committee that another fabulous edition of ELSA Dresden Law School had come to an end. With the fifth edition, the project can look back on five years in which it enabled students from across the European Continent and even the world to spend one of the best weeks of their student time in Dresden.

We thank our partners and everyone who made it possible for us to organise this years edition.

A big thank you goes to our participants, who were a fantastic group of young, talented and inspiring personalities, so that it was a real pleasure to spend a week with them. We wish everyone a lot of success with achieving their future goals and hope to have inspired them to take even more advantage of the great opportunities the European Law Students' Association offers to students from all over Europe.

See you next year!

On Saturday, it was time for us to leave Dresden behind and make our way to Saxon Switzerland for the traditional Saturday hike of our programme.

Due to bad weather conditions it was unfortunately too risky to take our normal route and so we decided to visit the impressive Königstein Fortress. After a (for some of us, rather strenuous) hike up to the fortress we enjoyed a breath-taking view over the river Elbe, the rocks of Saxon Switzerland and could catch a glimpse of Dresden in the distance.

When we returned home, we enjoyed delicious pizza and got ready for the final night of the social programme which included some good games of flunkyball.

On Friday, the last part of the week's academic programme began with a negotiation exercise where our participants could apply the knowledge they had acquired during the week. In exciting rounds of negotiations, they represented two parties and negotiated a deal on the use of celebrity images. The jurors of the Institute of Intellectual Property, Technology and Media Law (IGETEM), whom we thank for the continued support of our project, were impressed by the arguments the students were able to put forward in such a short time.

After lunch, the academic program concluded with an interesting roundtable where our participants discussed the topic of the ELSA Dresden Law School: "Intellectual Property - (a)n (un)justified Monopoly?" with the Dean of the Dresden Law School, Prof. Dr. Götting, Prof. Dr. Lauber-Rösnberg and Ms. Jana Lutter.

The highlight of the social program of the week was the gala evening, which started with a train ride through the Great Garden followed by a delicious buffet full of traditional Saxon food.

On Thursday morning our participants had time to prepare in groups for their negotiation exercise the next morning and to relax from an intensive week so far.

In the afternoon we welcomed Prof. Dr. Axel Nordemann from Boehmert & Boehmert, who gave an introduction to copyright law. We thank Prof. Dr. Nordemann for taking the time every year to come to Dresden and give a lecture.

In the evening, one of the highlights of the social programme awaited our participants. A visit to the world-famous Semper Opera with the play "The Magic Flute". For dinner there was another German dish waiting around the corner, a typical German curry Wurst.