Guidelines For New Students

Master of Laws (LL.M.
) Program
in European and Transnational
Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology (LIPIT)
Guidelines for New Students

Dear students,
Congratulations on being admitted to LIPIT LL.M. Program! Your admission means that you
belong to the very top tier of applicants from all over the world, considering that only about 10% of
applications for admission to our Program are successful (due to the limited number of places on the
Program). Therefore, we are very glad to be able to meet you soon and to spend one year with such
intelligent, motivated and hard-working students as all of you are.
The information below contains some useful tips on practical issues that you will have to deal with
before and during your studies in Göttingen. Please read (and reread) this information carefully, as
all the tips are based on the real questions that some of your predecessors asked us or real problems
that they encountered in the last couple of years.
Enrolment
In order to enrol, please use the electronic enrolment portal between 1 June and 30 September. The
portal for international students can be found at
https://immatrikulation.zvw.uni-goettingen.de/profis_registrierung.html . In the drop-down list,
please choose “Enrolment: Master / Doctoral Studies/PhD” and follow the instructions shown for
this option. On the next page, please select “winter semester 2021/22” from the drop-down list and
register your E-Mail address. After that, you will have to fill out the enrolment form and to upload
several documents, including your letter of admission (Zulassungsbescheid).
The enrolment portal for German students can be found at: https://immatrikulation.zvw.uni-
goettingen.de/qisserver_apps3/rds?state=wimma&stg=f&imma=einl
Please try to enrol as early as possible. This way, if there is any problem (e.g., some necessary
document is missing), you will have enough time to solve it (e.g., through obtaining and uploading
the missing document). Also, being an enrolled student entitles you to apply for the Germany
Scholarship in September. You will find the information about this scholarship below.
Enrolment fee (a.k.a. student union contribution or semester fee - Semesterbeitrag)
One of the prerequisites of enrolment is transferring the enrolment fee (a.k.a. semester fee or
student union contribution) to the university bank account. As you probably already know from our
website (https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/fees+and+scholarships/612639.html), this fee has to be
paid each semester in order to get and retain the student status. This money contributes to financing
student self-government and administering student social welfare, e.g. discounted meals in
university cafeterias and cheap housing in dormitories. A large part of this contribution is allocated
to enabling each student to use Göttingen city buses and local trains in the whole Lower Saxony
LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Juristische Fakultät, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 6, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
E-Mail: LIPIT@uni-goettingen.de
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free of charge (but not the high-speed “ICE” trains). The enrolment fee for the summer semester has
to be paid by the end of January (preceding the semester). For the winter semester, it has to be paid
by the end of July. The Semesterbeitrag constitutes around 400 euros per semester. Its exact amount
changes slightly from semester to semester. Therefore, before paying, please check the exact
amount at the top row of the table on this page: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/32172.html . If you are
paying the Semesterbeitrag by bank transfer, please use the following details for your payment:
Recipient: Georg August Universitaet Goettingen

Recipient’s address: Platz der Goettinger Sieben 6, 37073 Goettingen, GERMANY
Bank name: Norddeutsche Landesbank
Bank address: Friedrichswall 10, 30159 Hannover, GERMANY
IBAN: DE57 2505 0000 0199 9537 04
BIC or SWIFT code: NOLADE2H
Transfer purpose (or reference): Semesterbeitrag SS 20xx (or WS 20xx, depending on whether you
are paying for the winter or summer semester), surname, LIPIT LLM, matriculation number (if you
already have it).
Since you have to be registered as a student when you are submitting your master’s thesis, you have
to pay the Semesterbeitrag also for the third semester if you are planning to submit your thesis after
30 September. However, you can get your money back if you submit your thesis within four weeks
from the start of the third semester’s lecture period (i.e., by around mid-November). International
students can ask for such a refund by writing an email to the International Office at
international.study@uni-goettingen.de . German students should send their refund requests to
infoline-studium@uni-goettingen.de .
Health insurance
Another prerequisite for enrolment is having health insurance that satisfies the requirements of the
German law. The insurance should be valid for the regular duration of the master’s studies (i.e.,
from the beginning of October till the end of September).
If you live in Germany, another EU/EEA country, Switzerland or the UK, you can upload a copy of
your German insurance card or European Health Insurance Card into the enrolment portal.
If you live in Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, North Macedonia or Tunisia, your statutory
health insurance might be valid in Germany due to bilateral treaties, but you have to find a German
statutory insurance provider (e.g., TK or AOK) that recognizes your insurance. This may be rather
difficult in practice, but the insurance provider in your home country may be able to help you. For
example, Turkish students can contact the social security institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu) of
their city or district and ask the institution for an AT-11 document for the purpose of studying
abroad. After obtaining this document, the student should send it to a German statutory insurance
provider (e.g., TK or AOK), which will then issue a document confirming that the student is insured
in Germany.
If you live in another country, you have to buy German health insurance. You can choose either
statutory or private insurance. Statutory (a.k.a. public) health insurance is easier to use because you
do not need to pay anything when you visit doctors (you just have to show your insurance card). By
contrast, with private health insurance, you have to pay first and then get the reimbursement from

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the insurance provider. Quite a lot of students choose private insurance, as it is often cheaper (35-50
euros per month compared to 80 or more euros per month). However, other students prefer statutory
insurance, as they consider it more convenient and want to avoid any doubts regarding the
reimbursement of expenses.
If you prefer statutory insurance, you can check, for example, AOK ( http://foreignstudents.aok.de )
or TK ( www.tk.de/en ). If you would rather opt for private insurance, have a look, for example, at
https://portal.versicherungsdienste.de/dsw-studenten-kv/index.en.html or
www.mawista.com/en/health-insurance-for-foreign-nationals-in-germany/health-insurance-for-
students
If you prefer private insurance, you must first obtain the exemption from the statutory insurance
duty. In order to do that, send a request for exemption to a statutory insurance provider, e.g. to
service@tk.de or AOK.Studentenservice.Goettingen@nds.aok.de (you can also send the request to
both these addresses). The request can look like this:
Re: Bitte um Befreiung von der Krankenversicherungspflicht
Dear Madam/Sir,
I am going to start my master’s studies at Göttingen University on 1 October 2021. As I am

planning to buy private health insurance, namely … , I would like to request an exemption from
statutory health insurance duty (Ich bitte um Befreiung von der Krankenversicherungspflicht).
My name is … (given name: …, family name: …). My date of birth is … My address is: … As
I do not yet have an address in Germany, I would be very grateful if you could send the
exemption to my E-Mail address: …
Thank you very much in advance.

… [name] … [date]
Besides sending this request as an email message, it might perhaps be helpful to print it out, sign it,
scan it, and add the scanned version as an attachment to the same message. After receiving the letter
of exemption, please upload it to the enrolment portal together with your private health insurance
policy.
Enrolment questions
For all questions regarding the enrolment, international students should contact Ms. Simin Wahdat
from the International Office (Simin.Wahdat@zvw.uni-goettingen.de). You can also send a copy of
your message to international.study@uni-goettingen.de . German students should send their
inquiries to infoline-studium@uni-goettingen.de . LIPIT Program Office does not have access to
data from the enrolment portal, so it is impossible for us to see whether your enrolment has been
completed, to determine why you have not yet received a confirmation of enrolment, etc.
Germany Scholarship and Lower Saxony Scholarship
All students who have completed the University enrolment are eligible to apply for the Germany
Scholarship: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/218535.html and the Lower Saxony Scholarship
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/306042.html . The scholarship amounts are rather modest (300
euros per month for the Germany Scholarship), but it might still be worthwhile to apply for them.

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The scholarship applications can be submitted in September preceding the beginning of the
academic year. Therefore, if you are interested in this opportunity, try to complete your enrolment
at least by the end of August, as it will take some time for you to get the confirmation of enrolment
and access to eCampus (which you need in order to submit the scholarship application).
Tuition fee
The second half of your tuition fee (i.e., the tuition fee for the summer semester) has to be paid by
the end of January (unless you or your scholarship provider has already transferred the whole
tuition fee before the beginning of your studies). Please use the following details for your bank
transfer:
Recipient: Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen

Recipient’s address: Platz der Goettinger Sieben 6, 37073 Goettingen, GERMANY
Bank name: Norddeutsche Landesbank
Bank address: Friedrichswall 10, 30159 Hannover, GERMANY
IBAN: DE28 2505 0000 0106 0326 18
BIC or SWIFT code: NOLADE2H
Purpose (or reference, remittance information, etc.): 1567105049 / 4360024 / surname
(please write your surname instead of the word “surname”). It is very important to include this
purpose information when making the bank transfer. Otherwise, the processing of your payment
may be delayed.
Degree requirements
As you probably already know from the Program website, in order to obtain the master’s degree
you have to successfully complete at least 8 courses and write a master’s thesis. You will earn 5
ECTS credits for each successfully completed course and 20 credits for the master’s thesis.
You can choose all your courses freely, based on your academic and professional interests. The
only exception to this rule is that you must successfully complete at least one of the two foundation
courses, namely “Introduction to IP Law” or “Introduction to IT Law” (or both). There is no
maximum limit on courses that you are allowed to take, so you can complete all 16 or 17 of them if
you wish. We recommend taking around 5 to 6 courses per semester in order to be sure that you will
fulfil the degree requirements even if you fail one or two exams.
Course overviews (syllabuses)
Information about the main topics and issues covered in the LIPIT courses can be found in two
semester overviews and in the detailed overviews (syllabuses) of each individual course. They can
be found in the University OwnCloud under the following links:
https://owncloud.gwdg.de/index.php/s/iTnWJvDK6Tmw39l (winter semester);
https://owncloud.gwdg.de/index.php/s/tpoXvIAqq0BPPX5 (summer semester)
The overviews are updated by the lecturers every year before the beginning of their courses. Most
of the content, including most items on the reading lists, remain the same. Nevertheless, it is always
a good idea to check each syllabus again a few days before the beginning of the respective course.

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Exams
Exam assignments can have different forms, e.g. fictitious legal cases, open questions or multiple-
choice tests. Some courses have to be completed by writing an academic paper (essay) on a specific
topic. An exam can consist of several assignments of the same type or different types. Exams can be
written or oral, however oral exams are rather rare. Sometimes, when a student has failed a written
exam, the retake exam can be offered in the oral form.
Most commonly, written exams last for 3 hours. However, in some courses students get
significantly more time for completing the assignments, e.g. one or more days. Exam answers and
papers must always be submitted within the allocated time. If an answer or paper is submitted more
than 15 minutes after the deadline, it will be automatically graded as “failed”.
Exams can be closed-book or open-book. Usually, closed-book exams take place in the
computerized exam room MZG 1.116, which is located on the first floor (above the ground floor) of
the Blue Tower (the 13-storey building in Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, adjacent to ZHG and
Mensa). Its location on the map can be seen here:
https://lageplan.uni-goettingen.de/?ident=5237_1_1.OG_1.116&lang=en
In the computerized exam room, every student gets a small desk with computer, which is usually
not connected to the internet. If the use of some statutes, case law or other materials is allowed in
the exam, these materials will usually be available as PDF files on all the computers.
Open-book exams can be conducted either in the computerized exam room or by completing the
assignments at home and sending the answers by email. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic,
all exams have been written at home. At the scheduled starting time, you will receive the exam
assignment from the LIPIT Program Office by email. At the same time, the assignment will be
uploaded to Stud.IP. If you have not received the assignment by email at the scheduled starting
time, it is possible that instant delivery of the email was prevented by some technical problem.
Therefore, please check the Stud.IP to see if the assignment is there. If it is not there, please
immediately inform the LIPIT Program Office about the problem.
At the end of the allocated time, please send your exam answer or paper by email to LIPIT Program
Office ( lipit@uni-goettingen.de ). As mentioned above, if an answer or paper is submitted more
than 15 minutes after the deadline, it will be automatically graded as “failed”.
If a course is taught by more than one lecturer, the exam will contain one or more questions from
each lecturer. By contrast, there will be no questions from guest lecturers. The syllabus of each
course clearly states whether someone is regular lecturer or guest lecturer in this course.
Grades
Like most other study programs in Germany, LIPIT LLM uses the grading scale from 1 to 5 where
1 is the best grade (corresponding to “A”) and 5 is the “fail” grade. There are also intermediate
grades, namely 1.3 (A-), 1.7 (B+), 2.3 (B-), and so on. The grading scale can be summarized as
follows:
Inter- German Description

5
national grade
grade
A 1.0 Outstanding performance (without errors or with very few minor errors)
A- 1.3
B+ 1.7 Performance that is clearly above the average requirements
B 2.0
B- 2.3
C+ 2.7 Performance that meets average requirements, generally sound work with some
C 3.0 errors
C- 3.3
D+ 3.7 Performance has significant shortcomings but still meets the minimum
D 4.0 requirements
F (fail) 5.0 Performance does not meet the requirements. Considerable further work is
required before the credit can be awarded
The table above applies to all kinds of examinations, including fictitious legal cases, academic
essays and oral exams. Therefore, it is understandable that the description is not very precise.
For multiple-choice tests, which by their nature can be graded much more precisely, the General
Examination Regulations establish the following grading scale:
International German grade Percentage of correct

grade answers in multiple-
choice tests
A 1.0 94-100%
A- 1.3 90-93%
B+ 1.7 87-89%
B 2.0 84-86%
B- 2.3 80-83%
C+ 2.7 77-79%
C 3.0 74-76%
C- 3.3 70-73%
D+ 3.7 65-69%
D 4.0 60-64%
F (fail) 5.0 0-59%
If you complete more than 8 courses, you can request that your grades for some courses beyond that
limit be converted into the “pass/fail” grades. This way, they will not contribute to your final
average grade (GPA). For example, if you have completed nine courses and received the “D” grade
for one of them (and “A” to “C” grades for all the others), you can request to have the “D” grade
converted into the “pass” grade. However, at least one of the foundation courses (“Introduction to
IP Law” or “Introduction to IT Law) must be successfully completed and listed on your transcript
with a numeric grade.
Registration for courses in Stud.IP

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Since our courses are open only to LIPIT students and since we admit only a limited number of
students each year, there is no danger that a course will be full and you will not be able to attend it.
Registration for the LLM courses in Stud.IP (www.studip.uni-goettingen.de) is not a prerequisite
for attending them. Stud.IP is just a useful tool facilitating the distribution of materials,
communication with the lecturers, etc. Though it is not mandatory, we do recommend you to
register for the courses that you are interested in, as otherwise you might miss some important
documents or announcements from the lecturers.
Because many of our lecturers are legal practitioners from outside the University, not all of them
use the Stud.IP. Instead, some of them prefer to send their materials directly by email.
Registration for exams in FlexNow
You are welcome to visit a few classes in all the courses before deciding which of them you would
like to complete by taking an exam or writing a paper. You have to make up your mind at least one
week before the exam, as this is the deadline for exam registration in FlexNow - https://www.uni-
goettingen.de/en/45582.html . It is very important to register in FlexNow at least one week before
the exam (or before the deadline for submitting the paper), as otherwise your grades cannot be
recorded into the system.
Please do not postpone the FlexNow registration till the last day before the deadline. If you
encounter any technical problem, it is always much easier to solve it before the deadline than after
it. After completing the registration, please check whether you are really registered. If not, try to
complete the registration again. If the system still does not show that you are registered for the
exam, please ask the Examination Office ( studieren@jura.uni-goettingen.de ) or LIPIT Program
Office ( lipit@uni-goettingen.de ) for assistance.
If you miss the deadline, you will not be able to register, so even if you write the exam, it will not
be possible to enter the result into the FlexNow system (which means that it will not appear on your
transcript of grades). The Examination Office is usually unwilling to make any exceptions and
register someone after the deadline. As for the LIPIT Program Office, it usually cannot help in such
situations, since it does not have administrative access to FlexNow.
Timetable
Before the beginning of each semester, students receive a PDF document with the timetable for that
semester. This timetable corresponds to the dates and times of the courses in the Stud.IP electronic
platform.
Please note that slight changes to the timetable are always possible, e.g. when a lecturer falls ill and
his lectures have to be postponed. Whenever some changes are made, we will send you the updated
PDF timetable or at least notify you by email (if the changes concern just one or two classes).
Both the PDF timetable and the Stud.IP indicate class times as lasting from 10 to 12, from 12 to 14,
etc. In reality, each lecture usually lasts 1.5 hours, beginning at quarter past and ending at quarter to
the indicated hour (e.g., from 10:15 to 11:45, from 12:15 to 13:45, and so on). A couple of guest
lecturers might prefer their classes to begin exactly at the indicated hour (e.g., 10 a.m. sharp instead
of 10:15). If this is the case, they will let you know about it in advance or at their first lecture. In

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any case, please make sure to come to classes in time - in order not to distract the lecturer and your
classmates after a class has started.
In the PDF timetable, the course titles and the venues are abbreviated. The full titles of the winter
semester courses are:
IP or IPL – Introduction to European Intellectual Property Law

IT or ITL – Introduction to European Information Technology Law
EUL or EU Law – Introduction to EU Law and German Legal System
IntL – International IP and IT Law
CL or CompetL – Competition Law (Competition and Regulation in Digital Markets)
DPL – Data Protection Law
ITLI – Introduction to Information Technology and Legal Informatics
Econ – Economic Foundations of IP and IT Law
The full titles of the summer semester courses are:
IP or IPL – Advanced Intellectual Property Law

IT or ITL – Advanced Information Technology Law
UCL – Unfair Competition Law
ECL or eCom – E-Commerce Law
CCL – Conflict of Laws and Comparative IP and IT Law
TIPC – Transnational IP Contracts
TITP – Transnational IT Projects
TE or TrEnf – Transnational Enforcement of IP and IT Law
Almost all LLM classes will be held in the two buildings situated on the central campus, namely the
ZHG and the VG:
ZHG – Zentrales Hörsaalgebäude (Central Lecture Hall Building) – Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5
(https://lageplan.uni-goettingen.de/?piz=5257).
VG – Verfügungsgebäude (Seminar Room Building) – Platz der Göttinger Sieben 7
A few classes may be held in the Theologicum building – Platz der Göttinger Sieben 2
Each classroom has a unique number. Usually, the first digit in that number indicates the floor on
which the room is located. For example, VG 0.102 means that the classroom is located on the
ground floor of the VG building. A few classes may be held in Theo -1.110. This classroom is
situated in the basement of the Theologicum building (floor “minus 1”).
Academic calendar
The academic year in Germany lasts from 1 October to 30 September and is usually divided into
winter and summer semesters. The first and last days of classes in each semester can be found here:
https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/24440.html . As you can see on that page, winter semester classes

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begin on 25 October 2021 and end on 11 February 2022. After that, the students have some time for
taking exams and writing papers. Usually, the exams will be finished by mid-February or a bit later.
During the spring break, some students do internships, others start working on their master’s thesis,
and still others go back home or do some travelling. The summer semester lectures start on 19 April
2022 and end on 22 July 2022. The exams will probably be finished by the end of July. After that,
some students go back home, while others do some internships in Germany, work on their thesis in
the University Library, etc.
The deadline for submitting the master’s thesis is 4 months after the registration. For example, if
you register your thesis topic on the last day of your second semester (namely 30 September, which
is the last possible registration date), you have to submit the thesis by 30 January of your third
semester. Most students register their thesis topic with the Examinations Office sometime between
the end of July and the end of September. It is not necessary to stay in Göttingen while finishing the
thesis, as students can stay in touch with their supervisors over the E-Mail, Skype, etc. However, if
you are planning to submit your thesis after the end of September, you will have to pay the student
union contribution (Semesterbeitrag) for the third semester.
Orientation weeks
While the winter semester officially begins on 1 October, the classes actually start in the second
half of October. The weeks before the start of the classes are called orientation weeks, when the
International Office, the Student Union and other bodies organize some tours and other activities in
order to make the new students acquainted with the university facilities, with the city, and with each
other. You can find more details about these orientation weeks here:
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/196392.html and here: http://fachschaft-jura.eu/angebote/o-phase . If
you do not speak German, then you will probably only be able to participate in the activities
organized by the International Office (in the second week of October). In general, if you are already
in Göttingen, you should definitely join a couple of these tours. On the other hand, if you are
planning to arrive in mid-October, you won’t miss anything important, as we are going to send you
all relevant information per E-Mail and provide you with more details during our first meeting in
late October.
Master’s thesis
Each student will be awarded 20 ECTS credits for the master’s thesis (except in the case of
receiving the “fail” grade). Therefore, the grade obtained for the thesis plays an important part in
determining the average grade (GPA) of the whole master’s studies.
The thesis must be submitted by the end of January at the latest. If you would like to obtain your
master’s degree certificate by the end of September, you have to submit the thesis by mid-August. If
you plan to submit your thesis after the end of September, you have to pay the student union
contribution (Semesterbeitrag) for the third semester (in order to maintain your student status until
the submission of the thesis).
The usual thesis size is between 20,000 and 25,000 words, so most commonly the thesis has around
60 pages (excluding the bibliography). However, the word count is more important than the number
of pages, since some theses can contain many tables, graphs, etc., which will increase the number of

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pages. If your thesis is slightly shorter or longer than average, it is certainly not a problem. Much
more important is the content of the thesis.
In order to write a good thesis, it is very important to find a good topic, to choose the right structure,
to cover all relevant issues and to provide your own substantiated opinion on the problems that you
are dealing with. In addition, please do not forget to pay attention to the formal side, namely
spelling and grammar, correct and precise citation, table of contents, bibliography, etc.
Göttingen University offers a few courses and workshops on academic writing in order to provide
students with some useful tips and train the key skills necessary for producing good academic
papers, including the master’s thesis. If you would like to take part in such courses and workshops,
please check the offers of ZESS ( https://www.zess.uni-goettingen.de ) and the International
Writing Centre (Internationales Schreibzentrum – www.schreibzentrum.uni-goettingen.de ). In the
summer semester, the International Writing Centre even offers individual consultations on how to
plan, structure and write your thesis.
It is advisable to start thinking about a suitable thesis topic early. If you have some ideas already in
November or December, you can start discussing them with your potential supervisor with the aim
of agreeing on the topic before the beginning of the spring break. This way, you can use the spring
break for reading the relevant literature, preparing the outline and maybe even writing the first draft
of some chapters. When looking for a potential supervisor, please do not limit yourself to the
lecturers that you meet in the winter semester. If you are interested in one of the subjects taught in
the summer semester, please do not hesitate to contact the lecturer per E-Mail and ask whether he or
she would be willing to supervise a thesis on the topic of your interest (you can of course suggest
more than one topic). In January, we will ask all of you to send us the information on the
provisional topic and supervisor for your thesis. If you do not find a supervisor by that time, we will
help you to do that.
The thesis has to be submitted to the Examinations Office in electronic form in two copies: one in
DOC, DOCX or RTF format and the other one in PDF format. Please send these electronic copies
also to the LIPIT Program Office and to your supervisor.
The thesis must contain a note (usually at the end) affirming that the thesis has been written by the
student himself or herself and that all its sources are duly cited in the footnotes or endnotes.
If the thesis receives the “fail” grade, it can be rewritten and submitted one more time. If desired,
the new thesis can have a different topic.
Avoiding plagiarism
Since all of you have already completed at least your bachelor’s studies, we assume that you have
substantial experience in writing academic papers and know the rules applicable to them. However,
because it is a serious issue that can lead to very unpleasant consequences (including the possibility
that the master’s degree will not be awarded), we would like to remind you to take special care to
avoid plagiarism when borrowing someone’s words or ideas.

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You are probably well aware of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. If you do have some doubts
on certain specific points, you can of course find a multitude of very helpful websites on the
internet, e.g., www.plagiarism.org or https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html .
In general, the most important rule is to include the citation whenever you borrow someone’s words
or ideas. When citing, be as specific as possible, e.g. indicate the page number when citing a book
or the paragraph number when citing a court decision. When borrowing an exact phrase or text
passage, please use the quotation marks or indent and reformat a longer passage as a block
quotation.
Long quotations (e.g., a whole paragraph) should normally be avoided, since it is usually better to
summarize the key points in your own words. This is, of course, not an absolute rule. For example,
sometimes it might be necessary to quote the whole paragraph from a court decision if the court’s
reasoning will be analysed in detail further in your paper.
If possible, try to find and cite the original source rather than a secondary source. For example, if
you encounter a reference to some interesting court decision in an academic article, try to find that
decision and cite it directly from printed law reports or an online database (e.g., EUR-Lex or
curia.europa.eu, preferably with the ECLI case identifier). As always, try to be specific, referring to
the relevant paragraphs of the court decision rather than the case in general.
Plagiarism can result in the “fail” grade and the exclusion of the retake exam. The second
consequence (exclusion of the retake) is especially serious in case of the master’s thesis. Since the
thesis is an indispensable prerequisite for the master’s degree, the exclusion of the possibility to
rewrite a failed thesis means that the student will not be able to obtain the master’s degree.
Therefore, even if your time is limited (e.g., in an exam), please always take a minute to indicate the
source. If you are copying or borrowing something from the internet, please do not forget to include
the URL (a.k.a. web address).
Unless the lecturer in your course expressly mentions that you may (or even should) cooperate on
an assignment, it is assumed that you must complete the assignment by yourself, without consulting
with the classmates or anyone else. If the lecturer finds out that two students have cooperated on an
assignment (which is often obvious from the very similar answers), both students will receive the
“fail” grade and will not be allowed to retake the exam.
English courses
As language proficiency is an important skill for lawyers and English is the principal language for
international contracts and other transactions, we encourage you to make use of the various courses
and other services offered by the University’s Language Centre – ZESS: http://www.zess.uni-
goettingen.de . Even if your general English skills are already very good, you may still benefit from
some specialized courses like Academic Writing, Presentations and Public Speaking, or Applied
Writing Skills.
If you have not yet achieved the C1 level of English proficiency (95 points in TOEFL or 7 points in
IELTS), we strongly advise you to take the advanced English courses offered by ZESS in order to
obtain the UNIcert III certificate, which confirms that you have reached the C1 level of the English

11
language skills: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/474590.html . Unfortunately, unlike German courses
(some of which are held in the evening), most English courses take place between 8 a.m. and 6
p.m., which is the same time when our LLM courses are usually scheduled. Therefore, if you are
planning to attend some English courses, it will probably be most convenient for you to do it during
the spring break (in February and March) or after the end of the LIPIT lectures in the summer
semester (in August and September). You can find more information about language courses and
how to sign up for them on the ZESS website at: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/423445.html . Please
note that in order to register for a language course, you have to take a placement test before the start
of the registration period:
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/foreign+language+courses+/+placement+tests/447155.html
German courses
According to our experience, many international students are interested in learning some German or
improving their German language skills during their studies in Göttingen. The University offers
numerous language courses for that purpose, which are free of charge for all registered students. If
you are interested in one of such courses, you may find it helpful to check the information on this
website: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/114195.html . The placement test for a language course
can usually be taken at any time before the start of the classes in mid-October. If you are interested
in the beginner’s course, it is not necessary to take the placement test.
German courses usually begin one week later than other classes. After completing the placement
test and obtaining the student card, you can register for the course in the Stud.IP electronic platform
around mid-October. As these courses are very popular and the places on them are limited, it is
recommended to register as early as possible, so right at the start of the registration period.
Search for accommodation
When studying in Göttingen, you can live either in one of the student dormitories or in a private
apartment. In both cases you will have your own room. However, in some dormitories you have to
share some facilities (e.g., the kitchen) with other students. If you opt for the private market, you
can either rent the whole apartment (e.g., a studio or one-bedroom apartment) or just one room in a
bigger apartment. A group of two or more students sharing a bigger apartment is called WG
(Wohngemeinschaft).
Accommodation in student dormitories is usually cheaper than on the private market. Also, most
dormitories are located close to the University. In addition, living in a dormitory provides plenty of
chances to meet and make friends with many other students. This is why dormitories are a very
popular choice, which means that waiting lists for dormitory rooms are rather long and you have to
apply at least a few months in advance in order to get a room. However, even if you are looking for
accommodation in June or later, you can still try filling out a dormitory application, as some rooms
may become available in the last minute (e.g., if someone cannot pursue studies due to an illness).
Also, it is quite likely that a room will become available for the summer semester if your
application remains on the waiting list during the winter semester. In any case, do not wait too long
before starting to look for possible alternatives, especially if you are looking for accommodation in
June, July or later. Otherwise, finding reasonably priced accommodation on the private market will
also become challenging.

12
If you would like to apply for a dormitory room, please use the website of the Student
Accommodation Office for choosing a dormitory and submitting your application:
www.studentenwerk-goettingen.de/en/studentenwerk-goettingen-student-accommodation . You
may withdraw your dormitory application later without incurring any penalties. In addition, it is
also advisable to submit an application to the Accommodation Service of the International Office.
In order to do that, please fill out the application on this website:
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/617883.html
Close to the start of each academic year (especially in September and October), finding
accommodation in Göttingen might be a rather challenging task. So if you are still looking for a
room or apartment around that time, one of the key tips from the Student Accommodation Office is
to look for accommodation further from the city centre, and maybe even in some villages and towns
around Göttingen. For example, according to the SAO, it might be helpful to have a look at some
apartments in Northeim. It is quite a big town and is well connected to Göttingen: it takes just 15 to
20 minutes to go there by train, and there are two trains per hour. As a student you can use all local
trains in Lower Saxony as well as all buses in Göttingen free of charge.
Free accommodation advertisements are available on various websites, for example www.wg-
gesucht.de, www.studenten-wg.de or www.immobilienscout24.de . Some regularly updated ads can
also be found on the bulletin board near the entrance to the Student Accommodation Office (Platz
der Göttinger Sieben 5).
You can find more information and tips for finding accommodation on the following websites:
www.studentenwerk-goettingen.de/en/studentenwerk-goettingen-student-accommodation ,
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/617883.html ,
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/student+hall+of+residence/21447.html ,
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/private+accomodation+market/26553.html
Email
In the past, some students with Hotmail, Outlook and Yahoo email accounts reported that they had
not received some of the group messages sent from our office address. Other students with such
accounts did not experience any problems. It is impossible to predict whether you will experience
such problems if you use one of these email services. However, in order to be on a safer side, you
might consider using an alternative or an additional email address, e.g. ...@stud.uni-goettingen.de
or …@gmail.com . If you decide to do that, please let us know your new or additional email
address and we will add it to the mailing list for our group messages.
Sports and recreation
As we hope that during your studies in Göttingen you will not only improve your knowledge of the
IP and IT Law but hopefully also do not forget about your health and well-being, we encourage you
to make use of the facilities and services of the University Sports Centre, which offers a rich
program of activities both for beginners and for advanced athletes. For example, you can try some
new kind of sport, take part in the group fitness sessions, or just use the gym (FIZ), indoor climbing
center (RoXx), swimming pool or sauna on your own.

13
If you would like to try some new kind of sport but have doubts about being able to pursue it till the
end of the semester, do not be discouraged. It is actually very common that at the beginning of the
semester the courses are overcrowded but by the end of November quite a lot of students drop out,
as they need more time to prepare for their papers and exams. This creates free places for other
students, who were on the waiting list and are now able to join. So no one will be upset if you try
something and then decide that you do not want to continue.
The Sports Centre has separate programs for the lecture periods (October-January; April-July) and
for the spring and summer breaks (February-March; August-September). You can find the
information about all services and facilities of the Sports Centre on its website: https://my.sport.uni-
goettingen.de . For example, the information on all kinds of sport (Sportarten) that you can try at
the Sports Centre can be found here: https://store.sport.uni-goettingen.de/sports/sport . As
mentioned above, this program changes four times a year.
Culture and entertainment
With your student union contribution (Semesterbeitrag), you do not only get discounted meals in
the university cafeterias and the semester ticket for all local buses and trains, but also the culture
ticket (Kulturticket), which gives you free or discounted entrance to many performances, concerts
and exhibitions. Detailed information on what is included can be found here: https://asta.uni-
goettingen.de/en/offers/semester-tickets/
In addition, the University itself organizes many interesting events and group activities. For
example, a lot of such activities are offered by the Foyer International, which belongs to the
University’s International Office. An overview and schedules of various workshops, culture nights
and other events organized by the Foyer International can be found on its website: https://www.uni-
goettingen.de/en/2554.html
More information
The website of Göttingen University contains many pages dedicated to making new students better
acquainted with the University and to helping them make the most out of their stay in Göttingen.
For example, it might be worthwhile to have a look at the following pages:
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/guide+to+g%c3%b6ttingen+%28g%c3%b6guide%29/20875.html ,
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/student+life+in+g%c3%b6ttingen/50486.html ,
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/47224.html

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Guidelines For New Students - 2022

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Guidelines For New Students - 2022

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Master of Laws (LL.M.

Enrolment fee (a.k.a. student union contribution or semester fee - Semesterbeitrag)

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Recipient: Georg August Universitaet Goettingen

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Re: Bitte um Befreiung von der Krankenversicherungspflicht

I am going to start my master’s studies at Göttingen University on 1 October 2021. As I am

Thank you very much in advance.

Germany Scholarship and Lower Saxony Scholarship

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Recipient: Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen

Course overviews (syllabuses)

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Inter- German Description

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

International German grade Percentage of correct

Registration for courses in Stud.IP

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Registration for exams in FlexNow

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

IP or IPL – Introduction to European Intellectual Property Law

The full titles of the summer semester courses are:

IP or IPL – Advanced Intellectual Property Law

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Search for accommodation

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Sports and recreation

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

Culture and entertainment

LIPIT-Programmbüro / LIPIT Program Office

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