The Status of Agreements on Determining Competent Court and Applicable Law in the Intellectual Property Disputes

If there is a foreign factor in intellectual property disputes, then the matter of choice-of-court and choice-of-law will be arisen. The most important question in the parties’ minds is that whether they can choose the competent court and applicable law by agreement and also prevent from the complicated and vague process of the forum interference. The freedom of choice is accepted as a principle in the determination of competent court and applicable law in the intellectual property disputes and there are few exceptions. According to all international documents the choice-of-court agreements will cause exclusive jurisdiction unless otherwise is specified. Those agreements shall govern all rules except those of subject-matter jurisdiction. Choice of law is valid in IP contracts but there are hesitations over the ownership and infringement of IP rights. According to the most acceptable opinion, choice of law on the ownership of intellectual property including existence, validity, duration, infringement, assignment, … is not valid because of imperative nature of regulations over those subjects. Also choice of law on infringement can be enforceable only after the commitment of infringing act.