Moot Court: Intellectual Property

School Competition

The credit for this class is awarded at the end of spring semester. The work for the class, however, begins during fall semester – in late October.

The class uses as its core problem the problem that has been prepared for the year’s Giles S. Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition. This competition, which is sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (“AIPLA”), has been conducted annually for about the past 30 years.

Work in the class begins in late October or early November, when the AIPLA releases the problem. Students attend one or two classroom sessions to review general appellate brief writing strategies, the problem for the competition, and research resources and strategies tailored specifically to intellectual property law topics.

Thereafter, students research and draft briefs representing both sides of the problem. Briefs must be submitted for the local competition in early January, about one week after our return from the winter break. We will then hold a series of oral argument rounds among the L&C teams. The school competition will be concluded by late January. The two top-scoring teams will advance to the regional competition, which is held in mid-March.

Students must work in two-person teams, both at the briefing and oral argument stages of the school competition. Teams will be evaluated together, and will advance to the regional competition (or not) together.

Prerequisite: Students are strongly advised, although not formally required, to have taken the Intellectual Property Law Survey course in the fall semester.

Note: Students are not allowed to drop this class after the end of the official add/drop period.

Skills†: oral argument, brief writing

Regional Competition

The two top two-person teams (for a total of four people) from the school's internal competition advance to the regional competition. The regional competition is usually held in mid-March in the San Francisco, California area. The briefs that have been prepared for the school competition are submitted for the regional competition. There is thus no additional briefing for those who advance to this round.

Prerequisite: Selected through school competition.

Skills†: oral argument, brief writing
†Students may not earn more than four (4) credit hours in any one skill area