This SVAMC Task Force white paper, authored by Patricia Shaughnessy, Paul Cohen, and Duarte G. Henriques, examines a long-running disconnect: despite the technology sector’s outsized role in the global economy, tech disputes appear underrepresented in international arbitration. The authors outline why arbitration should, in theory, be a strong fit for tech companies (flexibility, confidentiality, technical decision-makers, and cross-border enforceability under the New York Convention), then explore several plausible reasons many tech companies still default to litigation or other paths. These include concerns about arbitration’s time and cost, a preference for US “home court” advantages like broad discovery and jury trials, discomfort with arbitration’s limited appeal options, questions about arbitrability in certain IP disputes, perceived procedural rigidity, and lack of familiarity with arbitration among key decision-makers.
The paper also introduces SVAMC’s Task Force on Tech Disputes, Tech Companies & International Arbitration, created to move beyond assumptions by conducting systematic, data-driven research. Its goal is to engage users and would-be users globally through surveys and interviews, identify what is truly shaping tech companies’ dispute-resolution choices, and use those findings to develop practical recommendations so arbitration can better align with the tech sector’s priorities and realities. Read the entire white paper here.