Students from 10 law schools gathered for the inaugural IP Law Meet on Feb. 23 and 24.
The participants negotiated a licensing agreement for a fictitious online game that helps students prepare for exams like the MCAT and the LSAT.
Teams from Hofstra Law School, Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, University of New Hampshire School of Law, Northwestern University Law School, DePaul University College of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, South Texas College of Law, University of Richmond and the Earle Mack School of Law represented the two sides in the fictitious deal: a start-up that created the technology and an international mobile gaming company.
Over the course of the two-day competition, the teams were judged by veteran practitioners on their understanding of the intellectual property issues at stake and their ability to forge a favorable deal for their respective clients.
Some of the “judges” demonstrated how they would have negotiated the exact same deal just before the winners were announced: DePaul University College of Law. The Earle Mack School of Law earned the Best Draft award in the Semi-Finals of the competition.
The IP Law Meet followed the model created by Professor Karl Okamoto, who launched the first-of-its-kind Transactional Lawyering Meet in 2010. Now in its third year, the Transactional Lawyering Meet has expanded greatly, with the addition of five regional competitions that will lead to a national contest at the Earle Mack School of Law on March 29 and 30.
On Feb. 17, the law school hosted the Mid-Atlantic Regional Transactional Lawyering Meet, which brought teams from law schools at Columbia University, Cornell University, Drexel University, George Washington University, Hofstra University, the University of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Villanova University, Widener University.
Four other regional competitions were hosted on Feb. 17 by law schools at UCLA, the University of Georgia, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Western New England University.
Four winning teams from each regional meet and four “wild card” teams will return to the law school for the national competition in late March.