Russian Court Strikes Down Unilateral Option Jurisdiction Clauses

The Financial Times has reported yesterday on a recent judgment of the Russian Arbitration Court in Sony v. RTC in which the court struck down a unilateral option jurisdiction clause.

The case involved two commercial companies, Sony and Russian Telephone Company (RTC). The contract included a clause which forbad the Russian party to sue in Russia while, it seems, giving much more freedom to Sony to bring proceedings. The Russian party nevertheless sued in a Russian court, which retained jurisdiction notwithstanding the jurisdiction clause.

The chief of staff of the Russian court is reported to have specifically referred to the judgment of the French supreme court which struck down a one way jurisdiction clause in September.

Update:

• A full report on the case is available here.
• See also the guest post of MM Sullivan and Maynard on the Russian judgment in today’s FT