Online Dispute Resolution

The main objectives of this paper are to demystify cyberjustice, which is often referred to as online dispute resolution (ODR), and to document its early period. What does ODR really mean? What does it presuppose? The paper explains what information and communication technologies actually and potentially can bring to the administration of justice. It describes in accessible terms the nuts and bolts of online dispute resolution and relates the principal early ODR experiments. There are many areas in which cyberjustice can be used, but so far few have received concrete, sustained attention. Such attention could usefully be turned to the strong potential of ODR, which merits investigation. The strictly legal aspects of the phenomenon are also discussed. How can state law accommodate the role of the private sector in developing ODR? What are the legal obstacles to deploying ODR? The last section of the paper provides a detailed presentation of the first sui generis online arbitration system : the domain name dispute resolution application developed by eResolution