Recently World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has revealed in a statement that cyber squatting has increased significantly. Cyber squatting is basically done through deliberately registering and using popular trade marks as domain name. Once these domain names are registered, they are offered for resale at a much higher price. The genuine trade mark holder has to either give the amount or fight the issue at courts or through arbitration or mediation. India has no domain name protection law hence securing domain name protection in India is a very troublesome task. Further, there are very few individuals and institutions that provide domain name dispute resolution services in India.
Cyber squatting dispute resolution services in India is not very popular for the simple reason that we have neither a conducive legal framework nor suitable techno legal expertise to handle such cases. Of course, some very selective individuals and institutions provide such services in India.
Technology has also introduced a novel element to dispute resolution. Now alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services are supplemented by online dispute resolution (ODR) methods. International organisations like Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), WIPO, etc are stressing upon the need of technology related dispute resolution mechanisms at regional and international level.
Technology disputes involving fields like Cyber Law, Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, Technology Transfer, Cyber Squatting etc require Domain Specific and Highly Specialised Techno Legal Acumen, says Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner Perry4Law a New Delhi based and exclusive Techno Legal IP and ICT Law Firm of India. The future trends of International Commercial Arbitration is indicating towards Technology Related Dispute Resolution, informs Dalal.
Thus, dispute resolution of cross border technology transactions would be one of the emerging trends in international commercial arbitration in India. Further, cross border technology transactions and dispute resolution may take lots of shape and requirements. India has to do lots of hard work to capatilise these opportunities. For instance, contemporary dispute resolution methods like online dispute resolution (ODR) and e-courts are missing in India. Even the national litigation policy of India (NLPI) failed to consider ODR and e-courts as effective methods of out of court dispute resolution.
In fact, we have a single and exclusive techno legal Technology Arbitration and Mediation Centre of India (TAMCI) managed by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). We need more such expert institutions so that India may be a hub for technology disputes resolution. Let us wait and watch the scope and future of technology related dispute resolutions in India.
