The team was one of over 60 worldwide to apply for the moot, with a written submission in December. It was one of three from Canadian law schools selected to compete in oral rounds, alongside the University of Toronto and York University.
The moot focuses on international intellectual property law and offers competitors the opportunity to meet renowned jurists and legal practitioners from the United Kingdom.
This year’s problem involved whether a supermarket chain could be liable for copyright infringement of an artisanal cake design and whether the use of a particular alcoholic brandy name in the marketing of the cake’s icing constituted passing-off and infringement of a protected geographical indication.
The team delivered an outstanding performance, winning all four preliminary rounds for its style, legal arguments and ability to answer questions from the bench. It narrowly lost its quarter-final match against the very impressive King’s College London, which finished as overall finalists.
Coaches Fewer and Clavette are exceptionally proud of this group of students. Kaitlyn, Alessandra and Chauntae are second-year students who had never mooted or taken intellectual property law before, and their tireless work produced some truly memorable performances.
The team is especially grateful to the Ottawa IP community and uOttawa IP mooting alumni, who were integral to this year’s preparation, including this year’s and past years’ Harold G. Fox IP moot and Oxford moot alumni.
Special thanks to Kristianne Anor (Derstine Penman); Sanjit Rajayer (Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP); Fred Wu (Hoffer Adler LLP); Tracey Doyle and Laura Macdonald (McCarthy Tétrault LLP); Mitch Charness and Meika Ellis (Ridout & Maybee LLP); Marian Wolanski and the entire team at Belmore Neidrauer LLP; Lawrence Veregin (Aird & Berlis LLP); Faylene Lunn, Geoff Langen, Nathaniel Lipkus and Ryan Howes (Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP); Benjamin Reingold (Bennett Jones LLP); Almut Macdonald (Gowling WLG); Gaelle Groux; Professor Alexandra Mogyoros; and Professor Anthony Daimsis.
Thanks also go out to Professor Teresa Scassa and uOttawa PhD candidate Renata Pimentel Watkin for their assistance with passing off and geographical indications law.
The annual moot is organized by the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at the University of Oxford. This year, the competition was once again in person, bringing together 30 teams from around the world.
Thank you to the organizers, competitors, judges and clerks for making it one to remember. Coaches Fewer and Clavette thank Professor de Beer for giving them the opportunity to work with these exceptional students.
Congrats to the team for its hard work and impressive performance at Oxford! A special shout out to our friends at the University of Toronto — semi-finalists, top oralists and winners of the best written submissions. Another successful year for Canadian teams!