Arbitration of Intellectual Property Disputes in the United States

Arbitration of Intellectual Property Disputes in the United States examines IP dispute arbitrations where the governing procedural laws are exclusively those of United States federal or state law. Designed to be more than a simple overview on US arbitration, it discusses the possible complications of issues peculiar to IP disputes and identifies topics that impact US IP arbitrations. It covers the major aspects of US arbitrations and examines:

• Significant issues that arise in the drafting of arbitration provisions for IP disputes to be arbitrated under US federal and state lex arbitri with suggestions for appropriate language;
• The choice between ad hoc and administered arbitration, the important arbitral rules in use for IP disputes and the arbitral bodies more commonly encountered for important IP matters;
• Privacy and confidentiality statutory issues, the treatment privacy and confidentiality receive under the rules of various arbitral bodies; the parties’ freedom to contract for confidentiality and limitations on what the parties can achieve;
• The scope of discovery in IP arbitration under the relevant statutes, several leading sets of arbitration rules, and in industry guidance that either the parties themselves or a tribunal may choose to adopt;
• Statutory provisions relating to admissibility of evidence in arbitrations;
• Arbitrators’ application of the rules of privilege;
• Arbitrators’ powers to grant provisional relief, arbitral rule provisions for quick appointment of arbitrators and the parties’ right to seek provisional relief from a court without losing the advantages of arbitration with respect to the merits of the case;
• The forms of relief an arbitrator may award; judicial enforcement of awards in the state and federal courts, and topics of particular relevance to IP disputes such as the effect of an award on patent validity and the requirements of the Patent Act for obtaining confirmation of an award.