Intellectual Property Law

Sixth Circuit: Some claims relating to license agreement with arbitration clause not arbitrable

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a recent decision, the Sixth Circuit considered the scope a mandatory arbitration clause in a software license agreement, and specifically whether the clause mandated arbitration of certain copyright infringement and other claims arguably related to the agreement.  The district court entered an order compelling arbitration.

The Sixth Circuit partially reversed.  According to the court, given the broadly-worded nature of the arbitration clause, the key question was whether the cause of action could be maintained without reference to the contract.  If no reference to the contract was required to maintain the claim, it did not fall under the mandatory arbitration agreement; if reference was required, the claim must be arbitrated.

The court held that while many of the claims contained similar factual allegations, only some of the claims must be arbitrated.  Those claims that required reference to the agreement in order to determine which of the defendant's actions were arguably authorized had to be arbitrated, whereas those claims relating to similar subject matter as the agreement, but did not require any reference to the agreement, were not arbitrable.

More detail of NCR Corp. v. Korala Assocs. Ltd. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on January 21, 2008 (boomark / email).