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SINGAPORE: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has established an arbitration and mediation centre in Singapore.
The centre is the first of its kind outside of Europe and aims to provide low cost dispute resolution services on intellectual property.
Come January 2010, WIPO's arbitration and mediation centre will open here at Maxwell Chambers.
Law Minister K. Shanmugam said that the office of an international body in Singapore is a natural result of Singapore's growing role as a legal centre.
He said: "We've seen a large increase in the number of arbitrations taking place in Singapore which has nothing to do with Singapore. ... we've liberalised our regime in that you can choose council from anywhere in the world... and arbitrate in Singapore."
The first WIPO arbitration and mediation centre was set up in Geneva in 1994 and to date it has handled a caseload of about 30,000. The Singapore office is only its second in the works.
The smaller the dispute, the more affordable and the faster it can be resolved, which is a boon to firms here. Disputes range from website domains to pharmaceutical patents, but in this part of the world one issue keeps coming up.
Francis Gurry, director general, WIPO, said: "Software licensing has been the most prominent and of course, software licensing covers a very broad spectrum as it can cover all sorts of multimedia."
The organisation also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts to promote arbitration adapted for the film industry.
After the signing ceremony, Mr Gurry called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana. - CNA/vm
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