Any company about to embark on a cross-border transaction involving intellectual property – such as a global license agreement, joint venture, or M&A deal with a transfer of IP rights – will want to consider an important question: how to resolve disputes that may arise between the parties.
International arbitration provides a forum with many advantages for such cross-border disputes: (1) adjudication by neutral arbitrators selected for their relevant expertise; (2) ease of enforcing arbitral awards around the world; (3) ability to address in a single proceeding disputes concerning IP rights implicating multiple national jurisdictions; and (4) procedural flexibility tailored to the individual dispute.
In The Guide to IP Arbitration, just recently published by Global Arbitration Review (GAR), we are honored to have contributed the chapter addressing this important subject: Why Arbitrate International IP Disputes? Our chapter seeks to provide a balanced assessment of the advantages and potential disadvantages of arbitration in this context, considered from the perspective of both common law and civil law jurisdictions. In doing so, we have drawn on Cleary Gottlieb’s extensive experience with both international arbitration and IP litigation. Our hope is that this analysis, together with the Guide as a whole, will help lawyers and business people as they navigate these important issues. Our chapter can be found here and the Guide as a whole can be found here.