This
paper discusses the issue of the arbitrability of disputes regarding the
question of the annulment of a patent claimed by way of a claim or a defence
from a comparative law point of view. There is indeed
no unanimity in the several systems of law examined in this paper, the great
majority of them excluding an erga omnes effect of an arbitral award declaring
null and void the patent at stake whilst the contrary solution prevails only
under Belgium and Swiss law. The paper went on to discuss the objections raised
by the dominant trend of case law and legal teaching against the idea that
arbitral awards could have effects towards third parties and in favour of their
being limited to inter partes effects. The author of this article finds these objections
not at all persuasive and concludes that the solution of Belgium and Swiss laws
better respond to the principle of celerity and efficiency which should prevail
in any arbitral proceedings.