AUA Hosts 8th Annual Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition for Law Schools

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YEREVAN, Armenia ‒ On April 13-14, 2019, the American University of Armenia (AUA) conducted the eighth annual Intellectual Property (IP) Moot Court Competition, organized by the Intellectual Property Rights Center (IPRC) and the AUA Master of Laws (LL.M.) program.

IP is not widely taught at Armenian universities. IPRC’s IP Moot Court Competition helps to increase students’ interest in the field, equips them with substantive knowledge, and helps them gain analytical and oral argumentation skills. Managing partners and senior associates at law firms regularly judge at the competitions, and IPRC’s Moot Court has proven to be a valuable platform for them to recruit top talent.

This year, teams from nine universities applied for participation and only five of them were selected to take part in the oral rounds of the competition: AUA, Yerevan State University (YSU), Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU), and the Police Academy.

The finalists were the teams from YSU and RAU. The first prize went to one of the two teams from YSU along with the “Best Oralist” award presented to one of the team members. Two participants of the other YSU team won the “Best Memorial” and “Best Oralist” awards.

Practitioners of private and public sectors, partners and senior associates from private law firms, IP attorneys and litigators, representatives from the Armenian Intellectual Property Agency (Patent and Trademark Office), and collective management organizations served as judges for the IP Moot Court.

At the closing of the Moot Court, the AUA LL.M. program and IPRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster cooperation on IP issues, conduct more research, and promote work in different areas of IP.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.