The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center administers four dispute-resolution procedures, three of which involve Arbitration and the fourth Mediation. The procedures all have different legal implications and consequences, as well as differing advantages.
Arbitration is a procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to an arbitrator or to a tribunal of several arbitrators who give a decision on the dispute that is binding on the parties. In contrast to a mediation, once the parties have freely agreed to submit a dispute to arbitration, a party cannot unilaterally withdraw from the arbitration.
Expedited Arbitration is, as its name suggests, a form of arbitration in which certain modifications are introduced in order to ensure that the arbitration can be conducted and an award rendered in a shortened time frame and, consequently, at a reduced cost. To achieve those objectives, the modifications provide for a sole arbitrator (rather than a tribunal of several arbitrators), shortened time periods for each of the steps involved in the arbitration proceedings, and condensed hearings before the sole arbitrator.
This procedure combines, sequentially, both mediation and arbitration. Where the parties agree to submit to the procedure, they must first endeavor to resolve the dispute through mediation. If a settlement is not reached through mediation within the period of time designated by the parties (either 60 or 90 days are recommended), the dispute may be referred by either party to arbitration for a binding decision.
Mediation (also known as conciliation) is a procedure in which a neutral intermediary, the mediator, endeavors, at the request of the parties to a dispute, to assist them in reaching a mutually satisfactory settlement of the dispute. The mediator does not have any power to impose a settlement on the parties. Mediation is also voluntary in the sense that either party may, if it so chooses, abandon the mediation at any stage prior to the signing of an agreed settlement.