Master’s Programme in Intellectual Property and Business Law
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Aug 2025
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for main application round
Key Summary
Scholarships
Explore scholarship opportunities to help fund your studies
Introduction
Why Intellectual Property and Business Law?
The Master’s Programme in Intellectual Property and Business Law offers a unique blend of legal and business studies. Our comprehensive curriculum is strongly motivated by business practices, providing a solid foundation to navigate today’s complex web of laws and regulations governing businesses.The courses are based on primary research areas of our faculty, including intellectual property and tax law, and are taught in close collaboration with industry, organizations, and internationally renowned visiting professors. This ensures that the programme remains at the forefront of developments in Intellectual Property and Business Law and business regulations.Our courses focus on the impact of laws and regulations on businesses and society, addressing global challenges like technological advances and sustainability. Students may specialize in areas such as Intellectual Property and Business Law (including data governance and trade secret law) or tax law (including also corporate governance and international taxation).
The Specialization in Intellectual Property and Business Law covers topics such as the fundamentals of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law in the European Union and international treaties, as well as intellectual property strategy.
The Specialization in Business Law covers essential topics such as tax and financial policy, sustainable tax planning and compliance, for effective corporate governance. These courses help students to develop knowledge, analytical skills, and independent critical thinking in their chosen field.
As a member of the Pan European Seal Network of the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, we also offer our students exceptional career opportunities after graduation.
Program Outcome
The Specialization in Intellectual Property and Business Law covers topics such as the fundamentals of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law in the European Union and international treaties, as well as intellectual property strategy.
The Specialization in Business Law covers essential topics such as tax and financial policy, sustainable tax planning and compliance, for effective corporate governance. These courses help students to develop knowledge, analytical skills, and independent critical thinking in their chosen field.
As a member of the Pan European Seal Network of the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, we also offer our students exceptional career opportunities after graduation.
Career Opportunities
Up to 98% of the 2018 & 2017 graduates had found employment within 6 months of completing their degree.
Our alumni from Commercial Law have job titles such as:
- Licensing Manager, Liaison Manager, Research Coordinator, Associate Lawyer, and many more!
- And note that the IPR University Center cooperation enables our students to get close to highly topical research subjects early on, already during their Master's studies.
We are also proud of our Hanken International Talent initiative, where newly-admitted international MSc students are matched with Finnish companies for mentoring!
Curriculum
The specialization in Intellectual Property and Business Law is a two-year full-time program and consists of 120 ECTS, of which 90 ECTS is specialization-specific. To attain the full 120 ECTS the students are to complete 20 ECTS of electives and the Global Competence Module consisting of courses within Social Responsibility and Market Analytics, as well as 5 ECTS language studies.
Mandatory courses:
- Fundamentals of Intellectual Property and Business Law
- International and Comparative IP Law
- Law and Economics of IP
- Research Methodologies in IP Law
- Research Seminar in Commercial Law
Examples of the elective courses:
- Intellectual Property Strategy for Business
- Moot Court Competition I & II
- Practical IP Law in Europe (e-Learning)
- Advanced IP Law (IP Summer School)
- Information Governance and Trade Secret Law
Courses and outline of studies
- IP-specific courses, 90 ECTS
- Elective courses, 25 ECTS
- Language course(s), 5 ECTS
In addition to the compulsory courses, the studies allow for a wide range of elective courses in, for example, law, finance, marketing, business administration, and accounting. We help you combine the best of both worlds, building meaningful, individual studies to suit your future career goals.
Compulsory Courses
Year 1:
- 37014 Fundamentals of Intellectual Property and Business Law (10 ECTS)
- 37028 International and Comparative IP Law (5 ECTS)
- 37046 Law and Economics of IP (5 ECTS)
- 9995 Introduction to Market Analytics (2 ECTS)
- 9996 Social Responsibility across Business Studies (3 ETCS)
Year 2:
- 37048 Research Methodologies in Commercial Law (5 ECTS)
- 37170 Research Seminar in Commercial Law (5 ECTS)
- 3720-E Master's Thesis (30 ECTS)
The elective courses should be taken according to the recommended time in the course description (if any).
Traineeships
In cooperation with the Pan-European Seal program, Hanken will annually shortlist five high-achieving IPL students (and/or alumni) for a paid internship at EUIPO or EPO for one year. Among the shortlisted candidates (including those of the other participating universities), a yearly average of 100 trainees will be selected. For more information about the traineeships, please contact Hanken's IPL Programme Coordinator, Professor Nari Lee. The traineeship is tied to Hanken's online course, Practical IP in Europe (3798). Read more about the course on Moodle.