NIPC Mediation: New Specialist IP Dispute Resolution Service
When I trained to become a mediator in 2000, mediation was regarded as the answer to lengthy delays and rocketing costs in the civil justice system but it has recently begun to acquire a bad name. The process has become expensive with the result that it sometimes hinders rather than facilitates a just resolution of a result. One of the things I was told during my training that a good mediator can settle any kind of dispute irrespective of the subject matter of the dispute. Much the sort of guff as used to be spouted by generations of Rumpoles on advocacy. The notion of the all rounder able to turn his or her hand to any kind of case was never true of advocacy and I very much doubt that it is true of mediation. I have often felt the need for a specialist mediation service with panellists who understand licensing and know how to value intellectual assets as well as being familiar with IP law and practice. Of course, no single practitioner is likely to have all those skills. Patent co...