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The Singapore government has amended its International Arbitration Act (SIAA) to introduce a default procedure for appointment of arbitrators in multi-party arbitrations.
The amendments also give Singapore-seated arbitral tribunals and the Singapore High Court the power to enforce confidentiality obligations.
Read moreWhile international arbitration spans multiple types of claims, overlapping jurisdictions and legal regimes, there are some commonalities to consider it an appropriate subject for a brief addendum within this guidebook’s framework. A practitioner considering a transaction involving third-party funding of international arbitration will need to consider multiple potentially relevant jurisdictions. For example, one might need to consider the applicable arbitral rules (if any), the law of the seat of the arbitration, the governing law of the underlying agreements, any applicable international treaties, the law of the jurisdiction in which the award will be enforced, and, potentially, the law of the parties’ counsels’ home jurisdictions. Accordingly, this addendum is necessarily limited and endeavours to highlight some of the issues and approaches that are common in the context of third-party funding and international arbitration.
Read moreRights holders have traditionally turned to court litigation to protect IP rights such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets – or to enforce IP licensing agreements. This brings certain challenges, such as a public forum, unfamiliar laws and procedures, judges with varying IP law expertise, concern for national interests, and the risk that a judgment cannot be enforced in other jurisdictions. Arbitration offers an alternative mechanism and has a number of advantages, including confidentiality, a neutral forum or a single forum, the ability to select arbitrators with technical expertise, symmetrical risk for licensors, and cross-border enforceability of arbitral awards. This chapter considers the viability and desirability of arbitration as a means of resolving cross-border IP and IP-related disputes with a focus on Asia.
Read moreAmid ongoing arbitration battle between US-based Amazon and Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) on Tuesday formed a three-member panel to pass its final verdict on Future Group's Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Industries Ltd. Both the parties have reportedly agreed to the names of the three-member arbitration tribunal required for the arbitration process, which is expected to start over the next fortnight.
Read moreAmazon had dragged Future to arbitration at the SIAC after the indebted Kishore Biyani group firm signed a pact to sell retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units to billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance in August last year. The e-commerce major's argument is that Future violated the contract by entering into the deal with rival Reliance.
Read moreThere will be two members in the arbitration panel when the case will come up for hearing in the next few weeks, says a person aware of the development
US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC and Kishore Biyani-founded Future Group are gearing up for the final battle at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) over Future Group’s ₹24,713-crore deal with Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Ltd. This, as SIAC formed its panel on Tuesday to pass its final judgement on the high-profile arbitration case between Amazon and Future Group.
Read moreShortly after the entry into force of the revised Arbitration and Mediation Rules of the London Court of International Arbitration (the "LCIA") on 1 October 2020,[1] the International Chamber of Commerce (the "ICC") formally launched its amended Rules of Arbitration, 2021 (the “2021 Rules”) on 1 December 2020. This new version will enter into force on 1 January 2021 and apply to cases registered from this date. These changes have arisen in a very particular context and aim to align the ICC rules with current trends in arbitration and ICC practice (notably its Note to Parties and Arbitral Tribunals on the Conduct of the Arbitration[2]), as well as clarify the interpretation of certain already-existing rules.
Read moreSINGAPORE - The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) opened a representative office for the Americas in New York last week, with a record-breaking announcement that its 2020 caseload had crossed the 1,000 mark.
It registered 1,005 cases for the first 10 months of this year, which is more than double the annual caseload of 400 in each of the last few years.
The new office, its fifth outside Singapore, will also further bolster its reputation as an international arbitration institution that will have a global reach, lawyers told The Straits Times on Friday (Dec 11 ).
Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said as much at the virtual launch of the New York office when he noted that one of the biggest users of the SIAC are parties from the United States (US).
The largest number of cases in 2018 came from US parties, he said, pointing out that they have consistently been one of SIAC's top 10 foreign users in the last five years.
"It has been SIAC's intention for some time now to open an office in the US. There is significant demand, as seen from the caseload breakdown since 2014. US direct investments in the Asia-Pacific exceed US$800 billion (S$1 billion) and that is expected to grow further."
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He also said that "in this part of the world, arbitration has become an extremely important means of resolving disputes which may arise from investments.
"If you look around Asia, I think most people would agree SIAC is considered the top arbitral institution."
SIAC's four offices in Asia are located in India (which has two offices), South Korea and China.
The SIAC, viewed as a crown jewel in Singapore's legal landscape, is led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is chairman of the SIAC board of directors, and Mr Gary Born, president of the SIAC Court of Arbitration.
SIAC counsel Adriana Uson will head the New York office, which will serve as a springboard to foster deeper ties with users in the Americas, who will benefit from real-time access to SIAC.
Mr Born said the US was picked for its first office outside Asia as American users have found SIAC arbitration conducive to the resolution of their business disputes.
"This year more than 500 US parties already have arbitrated their disputes under the SIAC arbitration rules. We look forward to working with our colleagues in the US and Latin America," he added.
Mr Singh said the choice of New York is an acknowledgement that the Americas will be shaping much of the future of international arbitration. "The opening of our New York office is our way of showing our many friends and supporters in the Americas that they matter to us."
SIAC chief executive officer Lim Seok Hui said the opening of the office, coupled with the crossing of the symbolic 1,000-case threshold and a record number of US parties at SIAC, "will firmly motivate us to do better".
Industry players say the New York office underscored SIAC's continuing prominence as an international arbitration institution with a global reach. It is no longer a national institution serving a limited, regional market, they added.
"The New York openingis in line with SIAC's remarkable landmark in recording over 1,000 cases this year and potentially overtaking other premier international arbitration institutions," said Mr Chou Sean Yu, WongPartnership's head of litigation and dispute resolution.
"This record is another testament to the growth of Singapore as a dispute resolution hub, which has come about from the tremendous investment made by the Government and various stakeholders in the legal industry," he added.
On 1 December 2020, the ICC International Court of Arbitration launched its revised ICC Arbitration Rules (the “Rules”), which will apply to arbitrations submitted to the ICC Court from 1 January 2021. Although the revised Rules do not represent wholesale change, the Rules do aim to provide for greater efficiency, flexibility and transparency in arbitrations conducted under the Rules. Some of the themes are also present in the updated LCIA Rules 2020 and in the forthcoming updated Rules anticipated from the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”).
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