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WIPO Holds Conference on Challenges, Opportunities of Cyberspace
An international conference on dispute resolution in electronic commerce opened Monday with leading dispute resolution service providers and arbitrators acknowledging that the technological revolution has forced a change in the traditional approach to arbitration.
Opening the International Conference on Dispute Resolution in Electronic Commerce on behalf of Dr. Kamil Idris, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), WIPO Assistant Director General Francis Gurry said that the demand for alternative dispute resolution was increasing greatly in response to the growing volume of transactions in the digital economy. Electronic commerce presented a series of challenges and opportunities for dispute resolution.
"The digital economy is introducing profound structural change in the provision of dispute resolution services," Gurry said. He noted that traditional arbitration had a small number of providers, while today electronic commerce has spawned a significantly larger number of dispute resolution service providers, thereby giving users wider choice.
"Today, users benefit from competition among the dispute resolution providers," Gurry said. He welcomed the presence at the conference of representatives from other dispute resolution providers in the area of electronic commerce, namely: the American Arbitration Association, CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, eResolution, the International Chamber of Commerce and Square Trade.
The conference is organized by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in cooperation with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Singapore Subordinate Courts and the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA).
The conference will provide an opportunity for the more than 250 participants mostly from the private sector, but also representatives of governments, to look at changes in alternative dispute resolution (arbitration and mediation) brought about by the technological advances that have sparked the e-commerce revolution and which have had significant consequences for business and legal practitioners worldwide.
A series of workshops will be held in addition to the plenary sessions which will address the major legal, technical and technological challenges that have arisen in the field of alternative dispute resolution, and that are likely to arise in the future. The workshops will focus on specific issues, sectors of industry and supporting technologies.
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