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 21st Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition which will take place in Oxford between 14th and 16th March 2024.

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 the best 28 teams, selected based upon the quality of their written submissions. The UCL team is one of only six teams representing UK universities. 

The UCL team members, Aadam Choudhary, Nick Sequeiros-Engel and Elizabeth Luu are all undergraduate students currently studying intellectual property law at UCL Laws. The UCL team has been coached by Professor Sir Robin Jacob (Director of IBIL), Josh Bradley, an IBIL Scholarship PhD researcher and Dheemanth Vangimalla (Research Assistant at IBIL and a semi-finalist in last year's moot).

The moot teams will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court of Erewhon, the apex court of a fictional common law jurisdiction of Erewhon. The 2024 moot concerns Velocitas Shoes Ltd v No Limits plc [2023] HCE 418 which raises validity and infringement issues in relation to (1) a patent (in particular, novelty and ‘right to repair’) and (2) the new Erewhonian unregistered design right (in particular, exclusions from design protection and the nature and standards for infringement).

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 Justice Arnold and Lord Justice Birss of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, and David Stone, partner at Allen & Overy and part-time Deputy High Court Judge. 

We wish the UCL team the very best of luck!