What This is About

Pitt usually enters teams in two intellectual property law moot court competitions:

1.  The BMI/Cardozo Entertainment and Communications Law Moot Court Competition, held in New York City in late March or early April.  This competition focuses on copyright and related issues affecting entertainment law.  Briefs are due in mid- to late February.  The team consists of two or three students; advisors are Richard Rinaldo and David Oberdick, partners with the Pittsburgh firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, and Prof. Madison.

2.   The Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition, which consists of four regional competitions, held in mid-March, and a national competition among the top finishers in the four regional competitions, held in mid-April.  This competition usually focuses on patent law.  It occasionally involves trademark or copyright law.  Briefs are due in early February.  The team consists of two students; advisers are Lynn Alstadt, a partner with the Pittsburgh firm of Buchanan Ingersoll;  Rob Lindefjeld, a partner with the Pittsburgh office of JonesDay; Cynthia Kernick, a partner with the Pittsburgh firm of Reed Smith, and Professor Madison.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 

1.  Team members for each team will be selected in a *single* internal tryout.  Students may try out for either or both teams.  No student may compete on more than on IP moot court team in a given academic year.

2.  All second and third year JD students are eligible to participate.  There are no prerequisites for membership on either team, although some exposure to copyright and/or patent law is helpful.

3.  No preferences in team selection are given to third year students or to participants in the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Certificate Program.  

4.  For each competition, team members completing the competition will receive one credit in the Spring semester.

5.  The Rich and Cardozo competitions use different formats.  The Rich team must prepare two briefs, one for each side of the controversy, and be prepared to argue each side of the case.  The Rich problem is typically available during the Fall semester, so that briefing can begin early and be largely complete by the beginning of the Spring semester.  The competition itself is a single elimination tournament, however, so there is no assurance that the team will have the opportunity to present its case more than once.  The Cardozo team is assigned one side of the controversy and is expected to argue only that side of the case.  At the competition, however, team members can expect to argue their case at least twice.

6.   It is expected that team members will contribute a substantial portion of the Spring semester (and likely part of the Winter break) to preparation for the competitions.  Pitt Law School enters these competitions expecting that students are committed to spending the time necessary to succeed.  Among other things, team members should expect to spend Spring Break in Pittsburgh, preparing for oral argument.

7.  Pitt Law pays entry fees and travel expenses associated with the competitions.  Any cash prizes won by team members are the students' to keep, although a student winning an individual cash award is required to share that award with other team members on a pro-rata basis.

How to Participate 

For the 2007-2008 academic year, both teams will be selected from an internal tryout, based on a short brief and short oral argument.  We use the following procedures:

Registration and Briefing

The Pitt selection process involves a short brief and a short oral argument based on the brief, both based on a short hypothetical.  The hypothetical is the actual Giles Sutherland Rich moot court problem for 2007-2008, which is posted online here. [pdf format; pdf reader, such as the Adobe Acrobat reader, is required].

The briefs will be due on Monday, November 26, 2007.  We expect that the oral arguments will be held on November 29, 2007. 

Registration

Along with the brief, each applicant must turn in a registration form.  Registration forms can be downloaded here

Record and Brief 

Applicants may download the Record from this location.

Each applicant must submit a short brief on the following issue:  The enforceability of the "no challenge clause" of the license agreement.  Applicants should choose and state which party they represent on the issue.  The brief should be no more than 4-6 pages in length, divided as follows:

        a.  Statement of Facts: 1-2 pages maximum.  This statement should summarize all of the material facts that relate to the "no challenge" issue. 

        b.  Argument: 4-5 pages maximum.  The Argument must be limited only to the "no challenge" issue. 

        c.  No footnotes are permitted.

        d.  Except as indicated in the next paragraph, no title page or other caption is required.  The text of the brief may be formatted as a Memorandum.

Each brief MUST clearly state the applicant’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and law school mailbox number.  You will need to do some research to write the brief (it is not a closed project), but we do not anticipate that this research will be onerous.  The written portion of the competition is intended to help us evaluate how well people write, not to help us determine who made the most exhaustive use of the library.  In deciding whether you have done enough research, use common sense and avoid overkill.

The completed brief, together with the Registration form, is to be submitted to Professor Madison's assistant, Melissa Shimko, in Room 314 no later than NOON on November 26, 2007.  Please attach a copy of your resume to the brief.  (If Ms. Shimko is not available, you may turn your material in to Prof. Madison, in Room 303.  If neither Prof. Madison nor Ms. Shimko are available, please deliver your material to the Reception Desk on the Second Floor and ask that it placed in Prof. Madison's mailbox.)

Oral Argument

The oral argument portion of the selection process will be conducted on the evening of November 29, 2007.  Each applicant will be assigned an argument time. Please dress as you would for a moot court argument.  If you have an unavoidable scheduling conflict on that evening, please notify Ms. Cramer when you hand in your research memorandum.

Each applicant will be contacted by e-mail regarding the exact time of the applicant’s oral argument.

Each argument will last 7-10 minutes and will be limited to the issues addressed in the brief.  Please be prepared to introduce the argument with a one-minute statement of facts.  Each applicant will represent the same party that he or she represented in the brief.

Following the oral arguments, the moot court advisors will evaluate the applicants and complete the selection process.  Successful applicants and alternates will be notified by e-mail promptly after the argument concludes.