Team Titan advances to Quarterfinals in the inagural WIPO IP Moot Court Competition

We are proud to celebrate the University of Cape Town’s Team Titan, who represented the institution at the inaugural World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition and advanced to the quarterfinals. This global event drew participants from 16 universities across the world to engage in legal debates around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and their implications within intellectual property law.

Representing UCT as Team Titan were Tendai Mikioni, our doctoral researcher, and Boitumelo Kgame, an LLB student. After excelling in the online preliminary rounds held in February 2025, they were among the 12 teams selected to move forward to the main competition stage. The main competition took place at WIPO Headquarters in Geneva from 23–25 April 2025, with Team Titan participating virtually in the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals on April 23, Team Titan argued two intellectually rigorous cases. First, they went head-to-head with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and later, with the University of Tehran, Iran.

The moot problem focused on a timely legal scenario: whether the use of Generative AI trained on datasets containing culturally significant material to create NFTs violates the copyright of the original creators. Team Titan drew on their skills in legal research, drafting, and oral argument to craft persuasive submissions addressing the interplay between IP law, NFTs, generative technologies, and cultural heritage.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Tendai Mikioni, Boitumelo Kgame, and the broader UCT community that supported Team Titan in this achievement.