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The Institute's role in IT & Intellectual Property

The Institute has recently begun several ventures to offer dispute resolution services and advice to the Information and Communications Technology sector, including software licences, all aspects of e.commerce, internet service provision and domain name disputes.

We have also created several opportunities in intellectual property, copyright, trademark and patents.

This page is designed to update members and other interested parties about some of the different opportunities that are being developed in these fields. The page is not exhaustive, as there are several projects which are not finalized and therefore must remain confidential. Therefore, you are invited to bookmark this page and return on a regular basis for updates.

The European Information Society Group (EURIM - www.eurim.org)
The Institute has recently joined EURIM by invitation, and has accepted the chairmanship of the EURIM Fair Dealing Group.

The objective of the Institute's role is to discuss and promote guidelines or procedures, agreeable to both suppliers and users, for alternative dispute resolution outside the courts with regard to software and service contracts.

The next meeting of the Fair Dealing Group takes place at Bloomsbury Square on 25th September 2002.

ECentre (www.ecentre.org.uk)
The Institute is a contributor to e.centre's Legal Advisory Group, and attended the meeting on 15th August about the DTI's ECommerce Directive guidance. The next meeting of note, on 13th September 2002, will deal with the ADR Green Paper and the Copyright Directive.

The Patent Office
Ron Marchant, Director of Patents, invited the Institute, to contribute to an enforcement roundtable on issues surrounding patents and intellectual property during July.

The purpose of the roundtable discussion was to identify the problems and possible solutions within the sector, and participants with knowledge of this area were invited to present and compare their viewpoints. In every session two speakers introduced their topic for 10 minutes to open the discussion. The Institute spoke on the value of arbitration and ADR whilst an experienced Patent Attorney was asked to show any disadvantages of private dispute resolution.

Details of the meeting are available on the Patent Office's website at http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/ippd/notices/enforce.htm


Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)
ODR is a method of resolving disputes by private dispute resolution which takes advantage of IT, and the Institute continues to lead the field in the UK in the development of ODR.

We now have four ODR schemes, for the UK Travel Industry; Ford Motor Company, the Musicians' Union (dealing specifically with intellectual property, copyright and trademark disputes within the UK Music Industry), and for the Consumer Association's Which Web Trader Trust Mark Scheme.

In addition, we have recently announced our acceptance on to the European Extra-Judicial Network (EEJ-Net). We will provide a DTI and Office of Fair Trading endorsed ODR scheme - named the EEJ-Net Dispute Resolution Scheme, which has been tailor-made to resolve disputes between Consumers and Traders regardless of national boundaries.

We are also due to launch our first online mediation scheme in association with the British Marine Federation and Marineliens.com. The scheme will allow parties anywhere in the world to have disputes mediated cost-effectively and quickly by one of the Institute's panel of experienced Civil & Commercial Mediators.

The Institute will be addressing the 40th Anniversary Congress of the Association of Young Lawyers on the subject of ODR in Lisbon later in August. Check this page in early September for a copy of the transcript.

You can find various press releases on the subject of ODR at the foot of the page.

Safe Internet Shopping Campaign
The Institute has been invited by the DTI to attend a series of workshops surrounding the "Safe Internet Shopping Campaign" - launched last year.

The campaign is part of one of the key elements of DTI's internet consumer strategy: to ensure that consumers have access to clear, accurate and up to date information about safe on-line shopping.

The Institute has been invited as the DTI are very keen to work with industry and public sector colleagues on the campaign, in particular to deliver and consider together the need to refine the key messages to promote consumer confidence in e-commerce.

The Dubai Technology, E.Commerce & Media Freezone (TECOM)
The Institute has recently developed a scheme in the Far East with TECOM dealing with domestic and international arbitration and issues under the term "Freedom of Expression". We are intending to use video conferencing to save on the costs of the tribunal travelling to the Far East from the UK, Europe or elsewhere.

The TECOM scheme shows that the Institute's influence and practical experience of using new technology for dispute resolution is growing internationally and demonstrates that online dispute resolution really has no respect for borders.

A further indication of our growing international reputation is evidenced by the fact that we are receiving regular requests for arbitrators and mediators for large IT disputes both in the domestic UK market and overseas.


How can you help?

If you are currently a member of the Institute and feel that you have expertise in any area to do with IT or IPR, then you will be interested to learn that we have recently developed a web-based focus group to deal with issues and opportunities as they arise.

This focus group, with global coverage, will provide quotes and case studies to the press, encouragement, advice, guidance, papers and influence, as we seek to create schemes and support for dispute resolution in these growing sectors. By limiting participation to email, costs for all concerned can be kept to a minimum.

If you wish to take part in the email focus group, please send a copy of your CV, indicating your experience in the issues and sectors outlined above, to Gregory Hunt.

If you're not a member, then please take a look at the Benefits of Membership and feel free to contact Richard Rodger for further details on how you too can help shape dispute resolution in the IT & IPR sectors at the professional home for arbitrators, mediators, adjudicators and other professionals in ADR.

Recent Press Releases
1. The Umpires Decision is Final - Computer Weekly, 15th August 2002

2. Resolve IT Online - ODR News, 14th August 2002

3. Users and suppliers work together on arbitration plan - Computer Weekly, 4th July 2002

4. Chartered Institute of Arbitrators partners with Dubai Technology, E-Commerce and Media Free Zone to create Alternative Dispute Resolution System - The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Web Site, May 2002

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