Originally from Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law - Volume 11

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I. INTRODUCTION

The investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in international investment agreements (IIAs)  provide foreign investors with a unique mechanism for seeking redress for host States’ internationally wrongful acts.   Since the “baby boom” of ISDS,  foreign investors in a variety of economic sectors have been able to access an international arbitral regime – beyond the domestic legal framework of the host State and without depending on their home States’ diplomatic protection  – in relation to host State conduct that is in breach of certain international law standards of protection enounced in the IIAs. 

The first two sessions at the Eleventh Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration Conference in April 2017 (Conference) examined the extent to which the current international investment law regime protects the interests of the technology sector, with a particular focus on intellectual property (IP) rights.  Session 3, to which this article pertains, examined a broader issue as to whether international investment law and arbitration should have a role in the enforcement of business interests of the technology sector (including IP rights as well as issues such as cross-border data flows) and whether there should be a movement for a truly international regime for the protection of such interests in ISDS.