IGET - A Dispute Resolution Service for Gaming and E-Sport Disputes

By Kai Hendry from London, UK - Televised Star Craft, - Stork vs JJU 1, CC BY 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2531978

 

Jane Lambert

According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the worldwide e-sports industry is worth over US$200 billion and has about 3 billion players (see James Nurton Game on: Navigating intellectual property in esports, 10 June 2024 EU IPO website).  The appeal of e-sports is likely to increase with the establishment of the Olympic Esports Games.  A lot of money is invested in branding, technology and content creation, which will be protected by trade marks, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights.

Infringement and licensing of those rights are likely to give rise to disputes between parties in different countries that cannot conveniently be resolved by litigation. The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and the World Intellectual Property Organization have recently launched an independent, not-for-profit dispute resolution body serving the global video game and e-sports industries known as The International Games and Esports Tribunal (IGET).  According to the home page of the tribunal's website, IGET offers to resolve integrity disputes in collaboration with ESIC and commercial and intellectual property disputes in collaboration with the WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Centre.

IGET's dispute resolution services appear to be mediation, arbitration, expedited arbitration and expert determination.  Disputes are referred to IGET where there is a clause in a licence agreement or other contract referring any disputes that might arise to the tribunal or through an ad hoc agreement to refer a dispute to IGET where the parties are not in a contractual relationship.  An ad hoc agreement might be reached in copyright infringement or other intellectual property rights disputes.  The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre provides a wide range of dispute resolution services and has a large panel of neutrals with experience in resolving documents only domain name disputes.

Unlike domain name disputes, there is no published scale of costs for the resolution of e-sports disputes. On the "Cost of Using IGET Services" page of the tribunal's website, IGET explains that during the initial launch phase, the cost of IGET's services will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Once the tribunal receives an application, it will provide a detailed cost schedule tailored to the specifics of the dispute. 

More information about EPIC and IGET is available from The International Games and Esports Tribunal. This is the podcast of an interview with Stephen Hanna, Chief Executive of EPIC and an Executive Director of IGET on the WIPO website.

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