Applications have officially opened for the 2026 edition of the WIPO Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition. Now entering its second year, the initiative welcomes law students who are under the age of 35 and studying in universities located in WIPO Member States. Participants will work through a simulated legal problem focused on industrial property rights, which may involve elements such as patents, branding protection, product designs, and confidential business information. This platform gives emerging legal professionals a valuable opportunity to improve their advocacy techniques, confront practical IP disputes, and interact with a diverse legal network from around the world.

Throughout the competition, teams will be challenged to argue a realistic intellectual property case and demonstrate how their legal abilities compare with students across different regions. The experience is designed to strengthen legal reasoning, enhance public speaking, and stimulate international collaboration in the field of IP.

Eligibility is limited to students currently enrolled in law programs who meet the age requirement and belong to institutions in countries recognized as WIPO Members. The selection process begins with teams submitting short recorded presentations before the application cut-off date. The hypothetical case for this year’s challenge focuses on industrial property matters, touching on issues such as the limita­tions of exclusive rights, cross-border protection, territorial jurisdiction, and the remedies available to involved parties. Teams will be asked to defend both sides of the dispute through written documentation and oral pleadings evaluated by expert adjudicators.

The journey consists of four competitive levels, beginning with video applications and followed by written briefs, virtual oral sessions, and a final round held face-to-face at the WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in June 2026. Only eight groups will advance to the global final stage scheduled for June 24–26, 2026.

For the initial stage, each team must record a video that runs no longer than five minutes, addressing one of two proposed legal prompts based on an illustrative situation. In the scenario, a space organization and a pharmaceutical manufacturer jointly develop a squeezable medical pouch known as the “Smart Space Sipper,” designed to deliver medicine without leaks in outer space while featuring a futuristic look intended for commercial use on Earth. Teams may either evaluate whether the developers could secure design protection for the pouch and which distinctive characteristics are eligible for such protection, or argue who should legally hold the design rights—whether one entity alone or both as equal creators—and justify this using accepted principles of industrial property law. These questions serve purely as part of the application process and are not indicative of the official moot problem used later in the competition.

The evaluating committee will announce the successful teams on December 5, 2025. Those selected will then move into the written phase, with submissions expected by January 10, 2026. Online oral proceedings will then take place in February 2026 as the next competitive step.

Scroll down for more details and click on the official link attached below to apply for this opportunity