On March 29, 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) organized a Conference on Mediation, which was held at its headquarters in Geneva. The purpose of the Conference was to examine the position of mediation as a dispute-resolution procedure in the contemporary world and, particularly, the reasons for the increased interest in mediation, the main features, advantages and limitations of mediation, the suitability of mediation to intellectual property disputes and the different understandings and uses of mediation that prevail in various cultural contexts. The conference was attended by 150 persons from 35 countries. WIPO was fortunate to have the participation of a number of eminent international specialists to make presentations and to lead the discussions on the various aspects of mediation considered during the Conference. This section contains the texts of their presentations, together with the transcript of the discussions that took place during the Conference. |