In this installment, we highlight perhaps one of the lesser appreciated, but very significant benefits of arbitrating patent disputes – the ability to efficiently resolve multi-jurisdictional disputes in a single proceeding.

Patent disputes frequently involve transnational activities and implicate patents in multiple jurisdictions.  Each act of infringement, absent a global settlement, requires litigation in the national courts of each respective country in which the alleged infringement has occurred.  Each case proceeds under a different legal regimen, often with different counsel and often with inconsistent results.

This situation can be further complicated when the dispute arises in a country in which infringement is resolved in court, but validity is resolved in the patent office (e.g., Japan) or a separate specialized court (e.g., Germany). 

In contrast, arbitration allows parties to resolve the full scope of their dispute in a single proceeding, with one set of attorneys, and under an agreed upon legal regimen, thereby reducing the cost and time to final resolution, while eliminating the risk of conflicting decisions.  Coupled with the fact that the parties can select arbitrators that are qualified in patent law and the technologies at issue (as we discussed in an earlier installement), arbitration is an attractive alternative to litigation.