Entertainment and media industry has to invest a lot to create commercial contents. This also necessitates the protection of such digital contents in both online and offline environment. Although creation of digital contents requires lots of efforts, money and manpower yet its violation and misuse requires little effort and expenditure. This is the reason why there are lots of entertainment, media and film industry related disputes these days.A very strange trend in the Asian countries, especially India, regarding entertainment, media and film industry related disputes is that they are essentially resolved through traditional litigation methods. There is hardly any use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or online dispute resolution (ODR) methods to resolve such disputes.
Even more bizarre is the fact that such disputes are seldom taken to International level, informs Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based IP and ICT law firm Perry4Law and a Neutral at World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Centre. Although WIPO has a dedicated mechanism to resolve Entertainment and Film Industry related Disputes yet Asian Countries are mostly “Respondents” there, inform Dalal.
This shows that Asian countries are not utilising international platforms of organisations like WIPO for getting their disputes resolved. This is a trend that needs to be changed as use of ADR and ODR is certainly “More Beneficial” for Entertainment, Media and Film Industry, suggests Dalal.
However, despite all assurances, entertainment, media and film industry would not be encouraged to approach international platforms in the absence of national level participations. Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) has opened a techno legal ODR platform where ADR and ODR is used for resolving all sorts of commercial and civil disputes that can be resolved using ADR and ODR.
With national initiatives becoming popular and frequently used, international platforms may also be approached later on. However, collaboration between national and international ADR and ODR institutions is need of the hour to achieve that objective.
