IPDR Forum

Infringement proceedings concerning patents and other IPRs are traditionally dealt with by the national courts. Arbitral proceedings or mediation in this respect are rare, mostly because such proceedings need to be based on a mutual agreement between the parties and in the case of unilateral infringement of intellectual property rights, this is only achieved in rare exceptional cases. However, in contract related issues concerning intellectual property rights alternative dispute resolution is not uncommon. This is not least due to the fact that the territorially limited scope of state court proceedings no longer meets the requirements of current international economic processes. Also, a court proceeding subjected to the policy of public trials may often run into confidentiality concerns.