Finalists for the 16th Oxford International IP Moot Court Announced
The Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre will host the 16th Annual Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot on March 15th – 17th, 2018.
A total of 66 submissions were received from nineteen countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Latvia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the USA. As a result of this record number of submissions, the organising committee has decided to invite twenty-eight teams, rather than the usual twenty-four teams, to participate in the oral phase of the competition. The winning team will receive the Allen & Overy Prize which includes remote mentoring from a member of Allen & Overy’s global IP practice.
The problem for the 2018 Moot relates to copyright and performers’ rights, with the fact pattern involving a fireworks display and a dance and spoken word presentation by three cockatoos. The case before the Supreme Court of Erewhon has been narrowed to four questions in relation to the meaning of “dramatic work”, the test for authorship, assessment of non-literal infringement, and whether an animal-only presentation can constitute a performance. Teams will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court of Erewhon, the apex court of a fictional jurisdiction. All teams will be required to participate in four preliminary rounds over two days where they will make submissions as both the Appellant and Respondents. Eight teams will progress to the knock-out rounds. The panel for the Grand Final is traditionally composed of three eminent judges, known for their work in the field of Intellectual Property Law. Lord Justice Kitchin, Mr. Justice Birss and Mr. Justice Henry Carr have accepted our invitations to judge the Grand Final this year.
At the close of the preliminary rounds on Friday 16th March 2018, we will hold our annual IP Conversazione: an interactive speaker and dining event. This year’s Conversazione theme is “Is All the World a Stage? IP and Performance”. A panel of diverse speakers from within and outside the law will explore issues raised by the Moot problem. At dinner, speakers, panellists, mooters, moot judges, coaches, sponsors and other guests intermingle at assigned tables, and between courses representatives of the tables pose questions to the panel speakers.
We would like to thank all teams who made a submission this year. Due to the large number of submissions received, the competition had never been tougher.
We would like to congratulate the following teams who will be competing in the oral phase of the moot at Oxford:
Boston University School of Law
BPP University
Bucerius Law School
Cambridge University
Georgetown University Law Center
Goethe University of Frankfurt
Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
Jindal Global Law School
Kings College London
London School of Economics
Multimedia University Malaysia
National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University of Law
National Law School of India University, Bangalore
Osgoode Hall Law School
Sciences Po
Singapore Management University
Swinburne University of Technology
Tsinghua University
University College London
University of Alberta
University of Bern
University of Edinburgh
University of Greenwich
University of Hong Kong
University of New South Wales
University of Ottawa
University of Windsor
West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
For more information on the competition, please refer to this website.