The IP Dispute Resolution Forum wants to offer an international platform to analyze, discuss and develop solutions to legal and economic issues in the field of IP disputes.
A particular focus will be the question of whether, and if so how, arbitration and mediation procedures can be used as an efficient supplement or even alternative to state court proceedings. The call for efficient dispute resolution mechanisms is getting louder in particular in the current conflicts regarding standard essential patents and so called FRAND licenses. Furthermore, the UPC Agreement provides that a Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre shall be established. So now is the time to think about how alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should work in field of Intellectual Property.
We believe that the IP Dispute Resolution Forum would be a good place to start discussing ideas and to develop a framework for practical solutions and procedures. At present, the initiative is led by enthusiasts from different practice areas with diverse backgrounds, namely, judges Dr. Matthias Zigann (Presiding Judge at the Munich Regional Court I) and Dr. Georg Werner (Judge at the Munich Regional Court I, as of October 2015 seconded to the Xth division of the German Federal Supreme Court), Dr. Peter Picht (Senior Research Fellow at MPI), Raffael Probst (former managing director of Munich Center for Dispute Resolution), Dan Bauer (entrepreneur and project consultant), Marco Stief (Partner, Maiwald), Dr. Axel Walz (Partner, King & Wood Mallesons LLP).