Robert C. Watson Award

The 2025 submission window is OPEN! Applications are due by June 30, 2025.

AIPLA has sponsored this student competition for many years to encourage interest in intellectual property issues. Students are encouraged to submit articles on a subject relating to the protection of intellectual property.

Judges consider the merit of the article as a contribution to the knowledge respecting intellectual property and the extent to which it displays original and creative thought or information not previously written or published by an author. 

Law students are encouraged to submit an article on an IP topic, written on or before June 30, 2025. Judges will consider the merit of the article as a contribution to the knowledge respecting intellectual property and the extent to which it displays original and creative thought or information not previously written or published by the author prior to July 1, 2024.

The winner will receive reasonable expense reimbursement to attend the AIPLA Annual Meeting, October 30 – November 1, 2025 in Washington DC, to receive their award.

To be eligible for consideration, the article must have been written solely by a student or students either in full-time attendance at a law school (day or evening) or prepared in connection with a law school course. The article must be submitted to the American Intellectual Property Law Association on or before June 30, 2025. Papers should be approximately the equivalent of 10 law review pages, including footnotes (30 - 40 pages typed copy). Submission must be made in PDF or text format. Submission must include the submitter’s name, current address, current telephone number, and employment information, if applicable.

Submit articles to:

Email articles to watsonaward@aipla.org with "Watson Award Competition" as the subject line.