Rozwiązywanie sporów z zakresu prawa własności intelektualnej na drodze mediacji i koncyliacji
Resolving Disputes in the Field of Intellectual Property Law Through Mediation and Conciliation

Summary/Abstract: Mediation and conciliation, like arbitration, belong to alternative methods of dispute resolution, but they are more demanding as they assume the cooperation of the conflicting parties in reaching an agreement. In general, these methods can be used to resolve disputes in almost any area, but this paper only focuses on IPR disputes. This is for two reasons. First, it is an area where alternative methods are relatively rarely used, at least in Poland, although they are promoted and recommended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Perhaps the reason is the low awareness of such possibilities. Second, the planned amendment to the Polish Industrial Property Law Act introduces a new instrument — conciliation, so it is worth not only describing it, but also making a comparison with the already regulated mediation. It seems that the choice of the method of dispute resolution made by the legislator is justified, because although the general term intellectual property law is used, the differences between copyright and intellectual property law are enormous. From the point of view of the subject of the study, the most important is the way in which protection is created, which also determines the freedom of the parties in the scope of out-of-court dispute resolution. Where a right is created or terminated by a decision of the Patent Office, there is less freedom. Conciliations with the participation of a specialist are to help the parties in a conflict resolution that takes these limitations into account.

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