Twelve Santa Clara University Law students took part recently in three High Tech Moot Court Competitions.
CARDOZO/BMI ENTERTAINMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION
The Cardozo/BMI Entertainment and Communications Law Competition took place in New York City at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law on March 22 – 25, 2007. The moot court competition is sponsored by Broadcast Music, Inc. and the Cardozo Law School.
This year, the competition involved appellate oral arguments focused on copyright law, and posed preemption and derivative work issues in the context of open source licenses. SCU was ably represented at the competition by two teams, each of which participated in three rounds of argument:
(1) Jacklyn Bentley (2L) and Elizabeth Hedges (3L); and
(2) Dominic Tsang (2L) and Benton Wong (2L).
SCU competed against 36 other teams from more than 20 different schools. Although our teams did not advance to the final competition, their well-regarded briefs and effective oral arguments reflected their thorough preparation, and they represented SCU extraordinarily well.
GILES SUTHERLAND RICH MEMORIAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION
The Regional Giles Rich Moot Court Competition took place at Santa Clara University on March 16, 17 and 18. The competition involved appellate arguments focusing on patent and copyright law issues. SCU School of Law was represented at the Regional Competition by two teams:
(1) Aaron Capron (3L) and Kwan Chan (3L) and
(2) Victoria Jimenez (3L) and John Pettit (2L).
SCU competed against 16 teams from 10 different schools. Victoria and John advanced into the Regional Semifinals.
The Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition is the preeminent patent moot court competition in the nation established in honor of the late Giles Sutherland Rich, circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The contest is sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association. The competition has two elements: written briefs and oral argument. The written portion involves the simultaneous preparation of two appellate briefs – one for the appellant and the other for the appellee. The oral portion involves arguing an appeal with a partner to a panel of three judges.
SAUL LEFKOWITZ MOOT COURT COMPETITION
The Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court West Regional Competition took place this year in San Francisco at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal courthouse on February 24, 2007. The competition was established in 1990 in honor of Saul Lefkowitz, a Chairman of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It is an annual event consisting of regional competitions in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and a final national competition in Washington, DC.
This year, the competition involved appellate oral arguments focused on trademark and right of publicity issues. SCU was represented at the regional competition by two teams:
(1) Amanda Gardner (3L) and Matthew Williams (3L)
(2) Jaya Badiga (2L) and Sophia Gaule (3L)
SCU competed against 13 other teams from 9 different schools. Although our teams did not advance to the final national competition, they represented SCU extraordinarily well.
Students interested in competing in any three of the high tech moot court competitions next year should contact the High Tech Law Institute, hightechlaw@scu.edu for more information.
