OxFirst Club’s 15th IP & Competition Forum at the University of Oxford: Global Patent Enforcement, Licensing and Competition Strategy
OxFirst Club’s 15th IP & Competition Forum will take place on 13–14 January 2027 at the University of Oxford, bringing together a senior international audience from industry, the judiciary, patent offices, competition authorities, academia and private practice.
The Oxford Forum will examine how patent enforcement, licensing and competition policy are becoming central to global business strategy. It will bring together senior judicial and institutional perspectives from the UK Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the High Court of England and Wales, the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court, the President of the UPC, the Commercial Court of Brazil and the Patent Court of Korea. This judicial dimension is central to the Forum’s purpose: to understand how courts and institutions across jurisdictions approach patent enforcement, licensing conduct, injunctions, proportionality, jurisdiction and the economic consequences of patent disputes.
The Forum will also feature market perspectives from leading global technology, telecommunications, automotive, electronics, licensing and patent risk organisations. The wider OxFirst Forum community has included senior representatives from Amazon, BMW Group, BSH Hausgeräte, ByteDance, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Giesecke+Devrient, Harman, HP, Huawei, LG Electronics, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Qualcomm, Samsung, Xiaomi, RPX and Access Advance. Their participation reflects the practical importance of patent enforcement and licensing for companies operating in fast-moving, innovation-driven markets.
Patent disputes are no longer confined to individual courtrooms or national borders. A decision before a national court, the Unified Patent Court or a court outside Europe can influence settlement dynamics, licensing negotiations, product launches, investment decisions and commercial behaviour across several jurisdictions at once. This is particularly visible in disputes involving standard-essential patents, FRAND licensing, injunctions, global rate-setting, cross-border enforcement, patent pools and competition policy.
The Oxford Forum will therefore focus on the interaction between legal doctrine, market structure and business strategy. Key themes will include licensing, SEPs and FRAND, competition policy, the UPC, global patent enforcement, patent valuation, patent risk, injunctions and international litigation strategy. The Forum will consider how companies can navigate parallel proceedings, how courts approach questions of proportionality and market access, and how competition law interacts with patent rights in technology markets.
At a time when innovation markets are increasingly interconnected, patent enforcement has become a question of industrial positioning. For companies active in telecommunications, consumer electronics, software, automotive technologies, AI-enabled systems, connected devices and digital infrastructure, patents are not only legal rights. They shape bargaining power, access to standards, licensing costs, portfolio strategy, supply chains and the ability to bring products to market.
The University of Oxford setting gives the Forum a distinctive platform for serious discussion across law, economics, policy and business. The event is designed to move beyond abstract legal doctrine and examine how patent enforcement works in practice: how licensing markets function, how disputes are resolved, how competition concerns arise, how patent offices and courts shape market expectations, and how legal decisions affect innovation and investment.
The Forum also forms the first part of OxFirst Club’s connected 2027 programme. Discussions developed in Oxford will be carried forward through the OxFirst Expert Groups and into the 16th IP & Competition Forum at the Residenz Palace in Munich on 3–4 June 2027, where the focus will shift more directly to the European enforcement landscape, the UPC, the Munich Regional Courts, the European Patent Office and the Boards of Appeal.
“Patent enforcement has become a matter of international strategy,” says Professor Roya Ghafele, convenor of the Forum and Managing Director of OxFirst. “Injunctions, standard-essential patents and global licensing disputes are no longer isolated legal questions. They shape market access, competition and the global economic order.”
A central question for the Oxford Forum is whether international patent enforcement can become more predictable. Businesses need legal certainty to invest, license and innovate. Courts, patent offices and regulators, meanwhile, face the difficult task of balancing effective patent protection with competition, market access and technological diffusion.
The 15th IP & Competition Forum will provide a high-level platform for examining these issues from judicial, institutional, industry and economic perspectives.
The Forum will take place on 13–14 January 2027 at the University of Oxford.
Further information, registration interest, speaking enquiries and sponsorship opportunities are available at https://oxfirst.club/15th-forum/ or by email at [email protected].
Event venue
Rhodes House, University of Oxford, South Park Road, OX1 3RG, Oxford, United Kingdom
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