Over the past decade, the proliferation of knowledge-based economy and cross-border flow of information across markets has placed IP rights at the centre of global economic discourse. In the post-COVID-19 era, studies estimate that applications for IP rights have skyrocketed,1 reflecting their economic significance in boosting innovation, facilitating technological progress, driving investments, encouraging economic growth and supporting sustainable development.2 Despite this, the significance of enforcing IP rights in promoting socio-economic development and realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) remains underexplored. While international organisations and scholars have widely recognized IP rights for their role in disseminating information (SDG 4, 9), promoting sustainable tourism and marketplaces (SDG 8 and 13), supporting equality and reducing gender divide (SDG 5) and building and strengthening international partnerships and collaboration (SDG 17),3 their intersection with access to justice (SDG 16) has received limited attention. This article examines this overlooked dimension: the intersection between enforcement of IP and access to justice and thereby, the contribution of IP in realising SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Customarily, IP disputes have been resolved through domestic litigation mechanisms—a process often characterized by significant financial, temporal and procedural complexities.4 However, in recent years, the burgeoning state practice of adopting and resolving IP disputes through arbitration5 demonstrates its potential to circumvent these challenges while upholding the rule of law, fostering economic development and providing equitable access to justice to all.

Building on the hypothesis that, by easing access to justice, settlement of IP disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms and, in particular, arbitration can help strengthen rule of law and maintain peace and stability in the society, this article undertakes an in-depth study of the recent state practice ie arbitrability of IP disputes in ensuring effective access to justice for all. To support this claim, the article examines the arbitrability of IP disputes in Qatar, a jurisdiction where cultural, legal and economic factors contribute to the growing legitimacy of arbitration.

Access to justice is analysed through three key dimensions. First, legal accessibility, which involves the ability to bring an IP claim before an arbitral tribunal, a process that is essential for investors seeking to resolve IP disputes effectively. Second, fairness and procedural efficiency. This ensures that IP disputes are arbitrated in accordance with principles of fairness and justice, ensuring that IP holders, as critical drivers of innovation and economic growth, can rely on equitable and fair outcomes in legal disputes. Lastly, access to justice includes capacity building and institutional support which help enhance arbitration mechanisms to facilitate investor confidence and boost innovation in an economy.

While ADR mechanisms broadly encompass mediation, conciliation and arbitration, this article solely focuses on arbitration6, which in many legal traditions, including those in the Arab Peninsula, is regarded as a symbol of peace, harmony and equitable justice. By exploring Qatar’s approach to IP disputes, the article illustrates how arbitration in IP disputes can help ensure effective access to justice, thereby aligning with the objectives of SDG 16.

This article is organized as follows. Section 2 sets out the implication of ‘access to justice’ as envisaged under SDGs in the context of IP rights. It first delves into one dimension of ‘access to justice’, ie procedural inadequacies, and questions the appropriateness of traditional litigation in disputes of certain nature as an impediment to access to justice before assessing how the arbitrability of IP rights helps achieve SDG 16 and more specifically target SDG 16.3 (‘access to justice’). Section 3 is a study on the State of Qatar. Here, we highlight how arbitration represents and facilitates peace in the Arab peninsula and how the investor-friendly, pro-arbitration approach of Qatar can help foster the arbitrability of IP disputes and realize SDG 16. Section 4, in the context of the arbitrability of IP disputes, suggests and recommends certain policy measures that can help Qatar become a regional player that maintains peace, upholds rule of law and builds strong institutions.

Source: https://academic.oup.com/jiplp/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jiplp/jpaf062/8268765