UCL's IP Moot Team reaches the Grand Final of the Oxford International IP Law Moot

We are delighted to report that UCL's Intellectual Property Moot Team reached the Grand Final of the 21st Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition which took place in Oxford between 14th and 16th March 2024. 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 Oxford Moot is arguably the world’s most prestigious intellectual property law mooting competition, attracting applications from many distinguished law schools around the world. In January, the many entries received were whittled down to the best 28 teams to compete in the oral rounds in Oxford, selected based on the quality of their written submissions. The UCL team was one of only six teams representing UK universities to be selected for the oral rounds.

All 28 teams participated in four preliminary rounds over two days, where they made submissions as both the appellant and the respondent. The teams argued in front of the Supreme Court of Erewhon, the apex court of a fictional common law jurisdiction. This year’s moot question raised validity and infringement issues in relation to both a patent and an unregistered design. At the end of Day 2, the UCL team had received the top mark of all 28 teams competing, thereby winning the 8 New Square Prize for the highest ranked team after the preliminary rounds.

In the knock-out rounds, the UCL team first beat the University of Sheffield in the Quarter Finals, and then the National Law University, Delhi in the Semi-Finals. In the Grand Finals, the team mooted before a panel comprising 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. In a close-fought round, they lost out to the University of Ottawa (last year’s winners), but picked up the Allen & Overy Runner-up Prize. Nick Sequeiros-Engel also received a personal prize for being in the Top 5 individual mooters in the Preliminary Rounds. A list of the results can be found here.

'Making legal submissions before such a distinguished panel during the Grand Final was the culmination of many months of hard effort, and the entire experience has left an indelible mark of pride on me' said Nick speaking after the competition. Aadam added: 'I would also personally thank all the other judges throughout the whole of the competition for keeping us on our toes and letting us show off all that preparation in full.' Elizabeth commented: 'Having only recently joined UCL as an overseas exchange student, I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent UCL Laws and have felt supported by coaches, my talented teammates, IBIL and the UCL Laws Faculty. The competition is certainly a highlight of my university experience!'

The UCL team was coached by The Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, Josh Bradley (a PhD researcher at UCL Laws) and Dheemanth Vangimalla (a Laws LLM graduate, now a Research Assistant at the UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law, and a semi-finalist in last year's moot). Professor Eloise Scotford, Dean of UCL Laws said: ‘The Faculty is utterly delighted with the success of our brilliant IP mooters, who were very deserving finalists in the Oxford International IP Moot. We are proud of our determined students, who learn so much through mooting, and grateful to our committed and talented IP team, who inspire and guide our students with unfailing generosity.’

Many congratulations to the UCL Laws team on their mooting success!