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.

Technology Dispute Resolution Services Of WIPO And UNCITRAL

What is common between World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and World Trade Organisation (WTO)? They all are engaged in one form or another of Dispute Resolution. They are also engaged in one form or another of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR). However, none of them are engaged in Technology Dispute Resolution Services and Techno Legal ODR Services.

For instance, WIPO has its own Arbitration and Mediation Centre (AMC) that provides world renowned Dispute Resolution Services. However, WIPO has still to strengthen its Technology Dispute Resolution Services. One area that WIPO 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.

Similarly, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has formulated the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) long before. It has stood the test of the time. However, with the passage of time, new challenges and issues have also arisen. This has necessitated bringing changes in the same. Incorporating Technology Dispute related changes can be one good option.

The UDRP has not been reviewed by the GNSO Council since its inception. Now a Preliminary Issue Report on the Current State of the UDRP has been prepared at the request of the GNSO Council and it has been posted online for public comment. The Public Comment period ends on 15 July 2011. Upon the publication of the Final Issue Report, the GNSO Council will determine whether to commence a Policy Development Process (PDP) on the UDRP.

Further, chances of future EU India Cross Border Consumer and Technology Disputes cooperation are also great. EU has been working in the direction of use of ODR for effective Dispute Resolution and it must work in association with countries like India in this regard. There is an urgent need of EU India ODR Development Dialogue between them.

Although WIPO, UNCITRAL, ICC, WTO, etc are world renowned for their Dispute Resolution Services yet in areas like Cyber Law Disputes, Cyber Forensics Disputes, E-Discovery and Digital Evidencing Related Disputes, etc, these Institutions must improve further. This trend is also apparent if we analyse the recent Internet Security Initiative jointly undertaken by ICANN and INTERPOL.

At the Indian level, Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have been working hard in his regard. In fact, Perry4Law and PTLB have recently provided the first Technology Dispute Resolution Policy of India and ODR Policy of India. Perry4Law and PTLB are working in the direction of strengthening Technology Dispute Resolution at National and International level. We hope our initiatives would be useful for all concerned.

Technology Dispute Resolution Policy Of India

India has no policy framework for technology dispute resolution. At Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we have been providing techno legal technology dispute resolution policies and strategies. We have been maintaining that online dispute resolution in India is the need of the hour.

However, ODR in Asian countries at large is not much popular and this includes India as well. Since there is no policy framework for ODR in India, Perry4Law and PTLB are providing the same here.

We have arranged and assembled all the possible information that we have shared with world at large in this piece of article so that individuals and international organisations like United Nations, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), etc can be benefited from the same.

Cross border technology transactions and dispute resolution is the latest trend in ODR. However, there are no international legal standards for ODR and international harmonisation of ODR is required as soon as possible. Similar is the situation regarding use of ODR for cross border e-commerce transactions.

There seems to be no effective coordination between UNCITRAL, ODR and India. Further, ODR in India is facing severe legal roadblocks that are preventing its growth in India. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 of India needs to be urgently amended to accommodate ODR, technology dispute resolutions, domain name dispute resolution, cyber squatting cases, cross border e-commerce transactions, etc. Even technological issues of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in India would require ODR mechanism.

The legal and judicial system of India needs innovative methods like ODR. At the same time, ODR is techno legal in nature and it requires ODR skill development and training for its proper utilisation in India.

All the abovementioned issues need to be formulated into ODR and technology dispute resolution policy of India. Law Ministry of India has proposed changes in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and these suggestions can be incorporated in this same.