The University of Ottawa’s IP Advocacy moot teams enjoyed a fun and successful run at this year’s Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot championship.
Collectively, the team brought home four awards: 2022 Fox Moot runner-up, second place for best overall speaker, first place for best 2L speaker, and second place for best Respondent Factum. This success serves to reinforce Ottawa’s national and international reputation for mooting excellence - even over Zoom.
Led by team captain Jessica Rollins, uOttawa Common Law team featured Zanab Chaudhry and Veronica Cesario on the Appellant’s side, and Julia Kafato and Ana Nizharadze arguing the Respondent’s case. Professor David Fewer and Dr. Christian Clavette coached the team, stepping in for Professor Jeremy de Beer, who is enjoying a sabbatical year.
This year’s problem asked whether a hotel chain can be liable for copyright infringement if without consent it copies and displays a social media influencer’s photographs of the chain’s own hotels, and if so, how to calculate damages. Kafato and Nizharadze for the Respondent went forward into the semi-finals as one of the top four teams after preliminary rounds arguing in front of an impressive roster of federal and provincial court judges and IP practitioners. In the semi-final, Kafato and Nizharadze faced the Appellant team from Queen's University before Mr. Justice George R. Locke of the Federal Court of Appeal, and Mr. Justice Michael L. Phelan and Chief Justice Paul Crampton, both of the Federal Court of Canada.
In the finals against the Appellant team from Dalhousie University, coached by uOttawa Ph.D. candidate Suzanne Dunn, Kafato and Nizharadze demonstrated elite-level advocacy and poise in front of an incredibly active bench of notable Canadian judges: Justice Suzanne Côté of the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice Johanne Gauthier of the Federal Court of Appeal, Justices Kathryn Feldman and Julie Thorburn of the Ontario Court of Appeal, as well as Justice Janet Fuhrer of the Federal Court of Canada. This was also a historic moment for the Fox Moot as the first time the finals consisted of all women, both judges and mooters.
“It was an experience I will never forget, and it was all the more rewarding since this was my first time mooting. Our success would not be possible without our whole team!” said Nizharadze.
“This was an unforgettable experience and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent uOttawa and to work with such a driven and collaborative group of students and faculty!” said Kafato.
Ana Nizharadze won the DLA Piper (Canada) LLP award for Mooting Excellence as the competition’s best mooter in a non-graduating year, which means that uOttawa will automatically qualify for the 2023 Oxford Intellectual Property Moot at the University of Oxford. In addition, Nizharadze was awarded runner-up for the Donald F. Sim Award for best oral advocate overall.
The team is grateful for the help and guidance of their coaches, claiming Professor Fewer and Dr. Clavette's mentorship were instrumental to the team's success this year. The coaches provided unwavering support by holding countless review sessions, providing ongoing feedback, answering midnight messages and taking early morning Teams calls.
The team is also grateful to the uOttawa IP Community including Jeremiah Baarbe, Kelly Brennan, Josephine Bulat, William Burke, Nevena Cekic, Alex Camenzind, Matthew Estabrooks, Alyssa Gaffen, Sarah Gupta, Sanjit Rajayer, Jenny Thistle, and Professor Anthony Daimsis.
Kudos to the Fox Moot Committee, and the organizers from DLA Piper (Canada) for another flawless execution of the moot. And a huge congratulations to Dalhousie University who took home the well-deserved first place win.
Professor Fewer and Dr. Clavette would like to thank Professor de Beer for the privilege of taking the reins for a year, and for the hard work Professor de Beer has invested in developing the IP Advocacy Program at uOttawa. His preparations made teaching this challenging program enjoyable. In the 12 years uOttawa has entered the Fox moot, our students have won the competition three times, been runner-up three times, and had four more teams reach the semis-finals. Also in those twelve years, uOttawa has won best factum three times, 2nd best factum twice, and has eight students recognized with best oralist awards.
The team is now taking a well-deserved break before preparing for the international IP moot in Oxford, England, in March 2023.