ARBITRATING IN THE ALPS RATHER THAN LITIGATING IN LOS-ANGELES - THE ADVANTAGES OF INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-SPECIFIC ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Despite a general consensus that alternative dispute resolution (''ADR '') has many advantages over litigation, such as time and cost savings , many practitioners still resort to the court system to resolve their disputes. When clients have an international intellectual property di spute, the court system imposes particular burdens on the litigants, i ncluding a need to litigate in numerous countries, a lack of judicial technical sophistication and a lack of adequate confidentiality safegu ards. In this note, Julia Martin argues that parties should first reso rt to ADR rather than litigation to resolve their international intell ectual property disputes. If the administering institution is truly in ternational and experienced in intellectual property ADR may overcome many of the difficulties parties face litigating their international i ntellectual property dispute in the courts. Ms. Martin argues that the World Intellectual Property Organization (''WIPO'') Arbitration and M ediation Center meets these criteria, and practitioners should conside r using it to resolve their international intellectual property disput es.