In many cases, the most costly measure to resolve intellectual property infringement is to initiate a lawsuit in a jurisdiction where intellectual property disputes are resolved, especially when your company’s intellectual property rights are infringed by “adversaries” within the same or different legal systems. If not in the same legal system, your company will have to enforce its rights in multiple locations and at various courts. For this reason, you may need an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, often arbitration or mediation, which is less expensive and time-saving than litigation. Using arbitration and mediation means seeking consensus.
Arbitration generally has the advantage of being less formal than court proceedings, and arbitration decisions are often easier to enforce internationally. An advantage of mediation is that the parties still control the dispute resolution process. This helps maintain good business relationships with other companies you may want to collaborate with in the future. However, the decision of the mediator is not binding on the parties involved, and therefore, the mediation process may have less “effectiveness” in resolving disputes. Typically, arbitration and mediation are very good (or at least less costly than) alternatives to litigation. As part of your business strategy, your company should add appropriate terms to contracts for dispute resolution primarily (and possibly exclusively) through arbitration and mediation if possible.
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center is one of the agencies you can turn to for assistance in resolving intellectual property-related disputes without having to initiate litigation in court. The center provides dispute resolution services for commercial disputes between private businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
To facilitate the conclusion of contracts between the parties, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has provided model contract terms relating to future dispute resolution in certain contracts; see model terms at http:// arbiter.wipo.int/ arbitration/ contract-clauses/ index.html. WIPO’s model terms can be found in many different contracts related to intellectual property, including patents, technical secrets, software licensing, trademark common use agreements, distribution contracts, joint ventures, research and development contracts, sensitive technology implementation contracts, important ownership issues in purchase and merger contracts, specific sports marketing contracts, and contracts related to publishing, music, and film operations. WIPO’s model terms can often be found in licensing contracts in effect between parties in different countries.
The center provides services related to:
- Mediation (http://arbiter.wipo.int/artribition);
- Arbitration (http://arbiter.wipo.int/mediation);
- Domain name disputes (http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains); and
- Other specialized services for dispute resolution (http://arbiter.wipo.int/center).
