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Swiss Rules from the Users' Perspective: A Pharmaceutical Company - Ten Years of Swiss Rules of International Arbitration - ASA Special Series No. 44

Author(s): 
François Naef
Page Count: 
4 pages
Media Description: 
1 PDF Download
Published: 
October, 2014

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Originally from Ten Years of Swiss Rules of International Arbitration - ASA Special Series No. 44

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1. SUITABILITY OF ARBITRATION FOR A GLOBAL COMPANY

Merck Serono, a division of Merck, is a global pharmaceutical and
chemical company that generates around EUR 5.9 billion turnover per
year, has 15,000 employees around the world and operates in more
than 70 countries. Until 2012, it had significant operations in
Switzerland since the pharmaceutical operations of Serono and then
Merck Serono were until that time headquartered in Geneva. It still has
approximately 800 people working in Switzerland.
 
As a global company it is regularly involved in a variety of legal
disputes around the world, mainly concerning contract issues but,
being an innovative research and development company, also many
patent disputes arise. Merck Serono typically subjects commercial
transactions to ordinary court proceedings and would submit to
arbitration in two main instances: (i) commercial transactions in
emerging markets where there is uncertainty about the quality of
justice in the ordinary courts, and (ii) patent disputes, where
arbitration is a convenient way to avoid or limit the potential impact
on discussions on the validity of patents.
 
1.1 In Case of Arbitration the Relevant Criteria are the Choice
of the Applicable Law and of the Arbitration Rules
 
Merck Serono has in the past used many types of arbitration rules
including those of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC),
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the American