Two Osgoode teams recently received both the Best Paper and Best Presentation awards for their respective presentations at the Copyright Policy Moot 2020 (virtual edition).
The policy moot – created by Heritage Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in collaboration with law faculties across the country – was supposed to have been an in-person event at the University of Ottawa at the end of March but was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The students submitted their “Memoranda to Cabinet” and participated in online policy presentations of their proposals via Zoom to panels of judges (senior policy analysts at Canadian Heritage, Industry, Indigenous Affairs, Innovation Canada, and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office).
The following two Osgoode teams from Professor Carys Craig’s Copyright Policy Moot seminar each received both Best Paper and Best Presentation awards:
“The Creative User & The Copyright Act” (Team: Natalie Chodoriwsky, Alexandra Hayman and Christopher Tsuji)
“Righting the Imbalance in Bargaining Power: Reversion as Empowerment” (Team: Rachael Glassman, Karin Kazakevich, Sebastian Romanutti and Fiona Sarazin)
“Against the odds, this ended up being a real success story, and I’m very proud of what the students were able to accomplish,” said Craig, adding that teams from the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto also picked up awards for both Best Paper and Best Presentation. “I hope I don’t sound unduly competitive when I say: only Osgoode had two teams that won both prizes… so I think that means we were the winners,” Craig said with a grin.
This year’s moot was dedicated to the memory of Professor Ian R. Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology at the University of Ottawa, who passed away last year.