WIPO And Online Dispute Resolution

Dispute resolution is one of the main factors that decide the business environment of any country. If disputes can be settled in a timely and effective manner, the chances of business and commercial community operating in such a nation increases. In fact, dispute resolution is directly related to business doing environment of any country.

International organisations and stakeholders like United Nations, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), European Union Commission (EU Commission), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), etc have been recommending the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and online dispute resolution (ODR) for resolving various disputes. This is so because it improves the quality of dispute resolution services that is absent in the case of traditional litigation methods.

WIPO is a well known name in the fields of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and dispute resolution and it must pay special attention is Dispute Resolution of Cross Border Technology Transactions and E-Commerce Disputes. The future disputes would be Techno Legal in nature and WIPO must be well prepared to deal with the same.

Although WIPO is world renowned for its domain name dispute resolution services yet in areas like cyber law disputes, cyber forensics disputes, e-discovery related disputes, etc, WIPO is still establishing itself. With growing competition from other international institutions and organisations like European Union, UNCITRAL, etc, WIPO cannot afford to take it lightly.

In the Indian context, Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have been working hard regarding establishment of ODR and e-courts. In fact, Perry4Law and PTLB have recently provided the first Technology Dispute Resolution Policy of India and ODR Policy of India.

Bilateral agreements between various countries may also be beneficial for having an effective and commercially conducive dispute resolution mechanism. For instance, EU India has lots in common in this regard and India and EU must engage in an EU India ODR Development Dialogue. Similar other agreement must also be entered into between India and other countries. However, nothing is better than a harmonised framework for ODR at the International level.

European Commission Suggested Use Of Online Dispute Resolution

European Commission has been actively involved in using information and communication technology (ICT) for dispute resolution. Whether it is alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or online dispute resolution (ODR), European Commission is recommending use of technology to resolve various disputes.

Recently European Commission suggested use of ODR for cross border consumer disputes. Tilburg Law School at Tilburg University has also launched a project that would sue technology in Europe to broaden access to justice. Now European Commission has suggested use of ODR for consumer dispute resolution. The Commission says this will be a cheaper and possibly more effective way for consumers to get redress in disputes with traders

The European Commission wants member states to introduce online alternative dispute resolution (ADR) schemes consumers can use when in dispute with traders. The Commission is concerned about an absence of ADR schemes in some market sectors. It also said the lack of information available to both traders and consumers about ADR schemes needed to be addressed.

While European countries and developed countries are adopting ADR and ODR to a great extent, ODR in Asian countries has not been successful. In the Indian context we have no ODR Policy in India. Even we do not have a Technology Dispute Resolution Policy of India. Now we at Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have provided ODR Policy of India and Technology Dispute Resolution Policy of India. We hope this would be helpful for all concerned. We also hope India would also consider active sue of technology for dispute resolution.