Beyond Rights in Rem: Towards a Coherent Framework for the Arbitrability of Intellectual Property Disputes in India

Intellectual property is increasingly exploited through licensing, assignment, technology transfer, franchising, and other commercial arrangements, creating disputes that do not always fit conventional categories of arbitrability. Although arbitration offers procedural flexibility, confidentiality, specialized expertise, and cross-border enforceability, the Indian position on the arbitrability of intellectual property disputes remains unsettled. The difficulty arises when statutory rights intersect with contractual obligations and the dispute also implicates questions of public authority or third-party rights. This paper examines how Indian courts have addressed this problem through the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and compares that approach with developments in Switzerland, the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It argues that the statutory character of an intellectual property right should not, by itself, determine the arbitrability of a dispute. Instead, the inquiry should focus on the relief sought, the legal effect of the determination, and whether the dispute requires the exercise of powers reserved to courts or statutory authorities. On this basis, the paper proposes a category-based framework that preserves judicial control over disputes concerning validity, registration, rectification, and revocation, while permitting arbitration of disputes arising primarily from licensing, assignment, royalties, technology transfer, and other contractual arrangements.