UCL's IP Moot Team off to compete in the Annual Oxford International IP Law Moot

We are delighted to announce that UCL's Intellectual Property Moot Team will be competing in the oral rounds of the 20th Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition which will take place in Oxford between 16th and 18th March 2023.

The Oxford Moot is arguably the most prestigious intellectual property law mooting competition, attracting applications from many distinguished law schools around the world. The many entries received have been whittled down to 28 teams, selected based upon the quality of their written submissions, including teams from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Switzerland and Ukraine.

The UCL team members, Dheemanth Vangimalla, Zachary Quentin-Lewis, Camille Pellicano and Cartman Tai are all currently studying intellectual property law at UCL Laws. Third year LLB students Zachary and Cartman are joined by Dheemanth and Camille who are students on the IP LLM course. The UCL team - coached by Professor Sir Robin Jacob, Sir Hugh Laddie Chair of Intellectual Property Law at UCL Faculty of Laws, and Josh Bradley, an IBIL Scholarship PhD candidate - is one of only six teams from UK universities to make it through to the final oral rounds.

Teams will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court of Erewhon, the apex court of a fictional common law jurisdiction of Erewhon. This year’s problem relates to an appeal lodged against the fictional case of Bouvier v Erewhonian Airlines [2022] HCE 213, and involves issues of film copyright, moral rights and potential defences. All teams will be required to participate in four preliminary rounds over two days, where they will make submissions as both the appellant and the respondent. Eight teams will progress to the knock-out rounds. The panel for the Grand Final will comprise Lord Kitchin of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Lord Justice Arnold of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, and Professor Robert Burrell, Professor of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, University of Oxford. 

We wish the UCL team the very best of luck!