OxFirst Club’s 15th IP & Competition Forum will take place on 13–14 January 2027 at the University of Oxford, bringing together an exceptional international gathering of senior decision-makers from industry, the judiciary, competition authorities, patent offices and private practice.
The Oxford Forum will bring together senior judicial and institutional perspectives from the UK Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Unified Patent Court, the Commercial Court of Brazil and the Patent Court of Korea. This international judicial dimension is central to the Forum’s purpose: to understand how different courts and institutions approach global patent enforcement, and what this means for companies involved in cross-border 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.
The Forum will examine how patent enforcement, licensing and competition policy are becoming central to global business strategy. At a time when technology markets are increasingly interconnected, patent disputes no longer remain confined to individual courtrooms or national borders. They can affect market access, licensing negotiations, investment decisions, product launches and the competitive position of companies operating across several jurisdictions.
The OxFirst Club programme will focus on some of the most important issues currently shaping international patent strategy, including licensing, SEPs and FRAND, competition economics, the UPC and global patent enforcement. These topics sit at the centre of many of today’s most complex technology disputes. Questions around standard-essential patents, fair and reasonable licensing terms, injunctions, cross-border remedies and global rate-setting are no longer narrow technical matters. They increasingly carry substantial commercial, economic and strategic consequences.
Proceedings in one jurisdiction can influence behaviour elsewhere. A decision before a national court, the Unified Patent Court or a court outside Europe may affect settlement dynamics, licensing negotiations and broader market expectations. For global technology companies, this creates a strategic environment in which patent enforcement, competition law and commercial planning are closely connected.
At Oxford, the discussion will focus on global patent strategy and the broader interaction between courts, regulators, markets and technology companies. The Forum will examine how leading courts approach questions of injunctions, licensing conduct, jurisdiction, proportionality and the economic consequences of patent enforcement.
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, and how legal decisions affect innovation and investment.
The Oxford Forum also forms the first part of OxFirst Club’s connected 2027 programme. Discussions developed at Oxford will be carried forward through the OxFirst Expert Groups and into the 16th IP & Competition Forum at the Residenz Palace in Munich, 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,” said 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 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.
In a fragmented world order, patents have become more than technical rights. They are instruments that can influence bargaining power, market entry, investment and industrial positioning. The OxFirst Club 15th IP & Competition Forum will provide a high-level forum for examining these issues from judicial, institutional, industry and economic perspectives.
The 15th IP & Competition Forum will take place on 13–14 January 2027 at the University of Oxford.
To join OxFirst Club, register interest, or explore speaking and sponsorship opportunities, visit OxFirst Club or email info@oxfirst.com.
