Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot Finals 2013

The universities that have been invited to the Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot Finals have been announced.  A record number of written submissions were received.  A list of the 20 universities invited to the Finals is available here. We will be welcoming teams from the USA, United Kingdom, India, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Germany and Canada. The moot will be held on 14-16 March 2013 at the Law Faculty and Pembroke College.  The moot problem this year centres on whether a drug producer can use trade mark law to protect its market position after expiry of the patent on the drug.  For a copy of the problem, please refer to this website.  In the same vein, this year’s Conversazione will consider the topic: IP: Forms and Functions? Copyright and design laws may protect an item’s form, while patents protect its function. With the registrability of non-traditional marks, trade mark law can also prevent others from copying the appearance of a product. So a single product may have overlapping protection from different areas of IP. Is this desirable?  This topic will be explored by: Dr Dev Gangjee, Senior Lecturer in IP at the Law Department, London School of Economics; Dr Kirstin Kennedy, Curator of Renaissance and Baroque Silver at the Victoria and Albert Museum; John Noble, Director of the British Brands Group; Dr Jon Sutch, Manager of Formulation and Clinical Trials Manufacture at Patheon (Milton Park); and Alastair Wilson QC, Joint Head of Hogarth Chambers in Lincoln's Inn.”

The Grand Final will be judged by Lord Justice Mummery, Mr Justice Floyd, and HHJ Colin Birss QC.  

Universities that would like to be informed of details regarding the next Intellectual Property Moot, please email ellen.moilanen@law.ox.ac.uk.