Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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Is there anything special about intellectual property disputes that justifies the need for a specialist arbitration institution or any special arbitration rules?

Arbitration is increasingly the preferred forum for dispute resolution in international commercial transactions of all kinds. Construction contracts, investment transactions, agency and distribution arrangements, joint ventures, maritime, purchase and sale of goods and, of course, licence agreements.

The major commercial arbitration institutions, e.g., the International Chamber of Commerce, the American Arbitration Association, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, will all deal with every type of arbitration. The types of arbitrators and the issues that arise will differ according to the different types of contract out of which these arbitrations arise. What then are the specific characteristics and needs of intellectual property disputes and arbitration?

In this paper I would like to consider several problems which arise and which have a particular relevance in arbitrations arising out of intellectual property disputes.

I shall specifically deal with the following issues:

1. Types of contract that could give rise to an arbitration.
2. Selection of arbitrators.
3. Interim relief.
4. Confidentiality of proceedings.

At the outset, however, it may be interesting to identify the number and type of arbitrations with an intellectual property aspect. This information is drawn from the statistics of the International Chamber of Commerce.