Vol 5 No. 2 July - December 2006 - Faculty of Law - National ...

victor y at the 4th annual oxford
international intellectual
property moot competition
Law
School
Highlights
24
CONTRIBUTED BY FELICIA TAN DIPSING ’06
What would you say in your defence as a nonprofiting
website that slogged to shar e free news
and r eviews of 1950s-60s music with fellow
aficionados but now face lawsuits because you
have per mitted fr ee downloads of such music in
response to your users’ pleas On the other hand,
from the perspective of the r ecording company and
composers, it is the copyright owner’s right to
decide how to r eact to the market and nobody , even
with an altr uistic motive, can usurp that right.
This is an exceedingly simplified fact-patter n for
the 4th annual Oxfor d Inter national Intellectual
Property Moot Competition (“OIPM”), held in Oxfor d
University’s Oriel College on 1 & 2 April. As a twoperson
team, Suegene Ang ’06 and I (Felicia T an
DipSing ’06) had to constantly r ole-play both sides
to brainstor m the r espective ar guments of the
appellants and the r espondents in or der to prepare
for the competition. What made the pr eparation
process even mor e challenging was the fact that
this was the National University of Singapor e Faculty
of Law’s debut in the OIPM, which meant no alumnus
to shar e their advice. As such, we had to tr ouble
fellow NUS mooters who wer e training for other
competitions to spar e time fr om their alr eady
tight training schedule to listen to our ar guments.
The ride in Oxfor d itself was not all smooth-sailing.
We worked with an extr emely tight schedule,
mooting five times within two days, alter nating
between both appellants and r espondents which
made it r eally dif ficult to keep the ner ves together .
Nonetheless, ever y minute of the experience
since December was wor th it. Our enchanting coach,
Associate Pr ofessor Eleanor W ong ’85, was
always ther e to give her unwavering suppor t
and guidance. Both Suegene and I also worked
superbly as we had the right chemistr y despite
being vir tually strangers befor e. Fr om r esearch
styles to an inexplicable craving for the full
English br eakfast, we had astoundingly similar
habits. W e also had dif ferent but complementar y
speaking styles, making us a unique team.
All in all, the challenges and dif ficulties fr om the preparation
to the competition itself, made our final victor y over Oxfor d
University par ticularly sweet, especially since we had
narrowly lost to them in the pr eliminar y round. Mor eover,
the final r ound was befor e a pr estigious panel of Lor d
Justice Jacobs, Lor d Justice Mummer y and Justice Pumfr ey,
all graduates fr om Oxfor d University. Lor d Justice Jacobs
himself complimented us on our ability to think on our
feet and for ward arguments as though they had just come
to our minds; skills that marked tr ue advocates. W e also
possessed the right blend of for mal cour troom manners,
a casual friendliness with the right amount of guts to
banter with judges when the questions wer e patently to
be taken as jokes.
For many, the gr eatest par t of the experience might be
the moment of victor y but mine came earlier . During the
judges’ deliberation, we wer e suddenly sur rounded by
other par ticipating teams who congratulated us on our
performance. I felt like a winner then when Asian and
Non-Asian teams alike swor e that we should win and that
if we did not the OIPM or ganisers must have conspir ed
against us.
When we wer e announced as the winners, the teams
once again sur rounded us with congratulator y wor ds.
They had to be asked to leave so that we could have a
private moment with the 3 Lor d Justices and we felt
extremely flatter ed and privileged. Ther eafter, the awar d
dinner, post-dinner drinks, and even the following week
where we rewarded ourselves by travelling in Eur ope flew
by in the blink of an eye. That was r eally a testimony to
our paramount joy which gave us the semblance that
time had stopped then at the pinnacle of happiness.
On a par ting note, our unfor gettable experience was not
due to our victor y. Ever yone had a fine time, and we all
made new friends and lear nt much fr om one another .
I dare say that our friendly coach was definitely one of
the most popular non-competitors in Oxfor d as even other
mooters asked for her opinion on their mooting! Though
Suegene and I panicked on the flight back home r ealising
we had no time to study for the upcoming exams, it
was incontr overtibly all well wor th it.