The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre can now provide dispute resolution services to contracting parties in the ASP supply chain through its ASP Dispute Resolution Service.
ASPs deliver and manage applications and computing services from remote data centres to multiple users via the internet or a private network. Using an ASP model, small and medium sized organisations have the possibility of deploying business applications that would otherwise involve massive investments in software, deployment time and IT personnel.
The ASP model has recently suffered, with its growth being slower than was expected a few years ago. However, according to a new report from researchers IDC, the ASP market in Europe will now double in size every year until 2005 at which point IDC predicts a valuation of $5.8 billion.
ASPIC, which has more than 700 industry members in 30 countries, asked WIPO to create the dispute resolution service. There are a number of areas in IT relationships, such as those that characterise the ASP model, out of which disputes might arise, including software or hardware performance, quality or function, project management performance, copyright and proprietary rights infringement, service failure, and loss of data or data integrity.
Because of the "one-to-many" delivery model, an ASP’s liability exposure in each of these and other areas is multiplied several-fold. Particularly in a cross-border international relationship, the commercial and legal risks increase significantly, as does the potential for conflict arising from different legal systems, different commercial and legal cultures, and language and cultural differences. The quick and cost-efficient resolution of disputes, together with effective dispute avoidance strategies, is seen as fundamental to the success of the ASP industry.