Arbitration in Copyright Law is still little used
Issues of a cultural nature, ignorance and even prejudice explain the low use in Brazil of arbitration as an alternative means to the Judiciary for conflict resolution, specifically in the area of Copyright, pointed out the professor at PUC-RJ (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro). ), Cláudio Lins de Vasconcelos, and the president of the CSD-ABPI (Center for Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Arbitration in Intellectual Property of the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association), Manoel J. Pereira dos Santos. The two participated, this Thursday, 29, in the webinar on “Arbitrability of disputes involving copyright”, promoted by the Arbitration Chamber (CArb) of the ABPI, moderated by Dr. Rodrigo Azevedo, member of the CSD-ABPI.
Claudio Lins de Vasconcelos explained that, although it is an attractive alternative for conflict resolution, arbitration faces the lack of knowledge of its advantages in the copyright market, where, according to him, a climate of distrust prevails between the parties, making it difficult the use of this expedient. Another aspect, he added, is the prevailing view that arbitration is a sophisticated and costly instrument. “There is a certain mutual distrust that does not favor the use of arbitration as a natural option, since it requires a certain maturity and an appreciation for the continuity of relations”, he said. “Most agents see the Judiciary as the first and last bastion to look for in the event of a conflict.”
For Manoel J. Pereira dos Santos, in Brazil there is no incentive to use arbitration in contracts involving copyright and the most usual path ends up being the Judiciary. In international contracts, on the contrary, the value of the negotiations and the size of the parties involved already give rise to an initial concern that there may be a future conflict, which encourages the use of alternative means of resolving disputes. For the president of the CSD-ABPI, the idea that the judiciary, in these cases, is cheaper is illusory. “At best, a dispute brought to the judiciary can take ten years and at worst, twenty years, while in arbitration the problem is resolved in two years,” he explained. “We have to foster a culture of collaborative dispute resolution and not litigation”.
For the president of the CSD, the future of dispute resolution will be in the ODR (Online Dispute Resolutions) environment. “We have already implemented this system in the ABPI CSD and it has proved to be a faster and cheaper procedure”, he said.