
Annabelle Gauberti, founding and managing partner of London law firm Crefovi, focused on advising the creative industries, is now a neutral for the Films, entertainment and media section of the Arbitration & mediation center of the World intellectual property office (‟WIPO”).
Based in Geneva, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center was established in 1994 to offer alternative dispute resolution (‟ADR”) options for the resolution of international commercial disputes between private parties. Developed by leading experts in cross-border dispute settlement, the arbitration, mediation and expert determination procedures offered by the Center are widely recognised as particularly appropriate for technology, entertainment and other disputes involving intellectual property.
To date, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has administered some 400 mediation, arbitration and expert determination cases. Most of these cases have been filed in recent years. 33 percent of the mediations and (expedited) arbitration cases filed with the WIPO Center included an escalation clause providing for WIPO mediation followed by WIPO (expedited) arbitration.
The subject matter of the mediation and arbitration cases so far administered by the WIPO Center includes artistic production finance agreements, art marketing agreements, consultancy and engineering disputes, copyright issues, distribution agreements for pharmaceutical products, Information Technology agreements including software licenses, joint venture agreements, patent infringements, patent licenses, research and development agreements, technology transfer agreements, telecommunications related agreements, trademark issues (including trademark coexistence agreements), TV distribution rights, as well as cases arising out of agreements in settlement of prior court litigation.
Amounts in dispute in WIPO mediations and arbitrations have varied from USD20,000 to several hundred million USD. The remedies claimed in arbitration proceedings have included damages, infringement declarations and specific performance, such as a declaration of non-performance of contractual obligations, or of infringement of rights, further safeguards for the preservation of confidentiality of evidence, the provision of a security, the production of data, the delivery of goods or the conclusion of new contracts.
The WIPO Center has a Film and Media Panel, also known as Films, Entertainment and Media section. Currently, this Panel includes 7 mediators and arbitrators from France and 11 from the UK.
On 13 April 2015, Annabelle Gauberti becomes arbitrator for WIPO: she was notified by the WIPO Center that she had been admitted as a mediator and arbitrator on the Film and Media Panel, for the jurisdictions of France and the UK. She looks forward to working on future mediation and arbitration cases as an mediator and arbitrator of the WIPO Center.
Crefovi has a distinguished and strong Litigation & dispute resolution practice, in particular in the intellectual property, entertainment and media, and luxury goods and fashion sectors.
The WIPO Mediation and Expedited Arbitration Rules for Film and Media have been specifically tailored to resolve disputes in the film and media sectors, without the need for court litigation.
Potential users of the WIPO Mediation and Expedited Arbitration Rules for Film and Media include film makers, directors, actors, performers, guild and industry associations, producers, authors, screenwriters, creators, investors, financiers, film funds, performance bond companies, insurers, sales agents, entertainment, media and IP lawyers consultants and accountants, distributors, broadcasters, exhibitors, publishing houses, trade federations, collecting societies, users of creative material.
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