PMAC Director at AIPPI UK panel “The Importance of ADR in Patent Disputes”

Just over a week before the highly anticipated AIPPI World Congress in Hamburg, Aleš Zalar, PMAC Director, participated remotely in an AIPPI UK panel discussion entitled “The Importance of ADR in Patent Disputes”, held in London on 28 September 2026.

Other distinguished panellists included Lord Justice Arnold and Steve Bauer, with the discussion moderated by Jane Mutimear. Together, they explored the evolving role of alternative dispute resolution in complex international patent and FRAND disputes across the UK, Europe and the US, with particular emphasis on the role of the PMAC. The discussion also focused on arbitration in FRAND/RAND disputes, the conduct of arbitral proceedings, and issues relating to confidentiality, duration, costs, appeals, and the enforcement of awards.

Director Zalar explained that the PMAC represents a legal innovation: it is the first statutory measure in Europe to introduce mediation and arbitration specifically for patent disputes. He emphasised that the PMAC’s role is complementary to that of the UPC. By offering parties a range of distinct yet connected pathways for resolving patent disputes, the UPC and the PMAC together constitute Europe’s first multi-door courthouse at supranational level.

He also explained why the PMAC’s scope of competence is considerably broader than the UPC’s jurisdiction, how litigation and ADR can interact, and which incentives are built into the framework for parties. The discussion examined what the UPC’s first decisions indicate about ADR in FRAND disputes, why FRAND disputes are particularly well suited to mediation, expert determination and arbitration at the PMAC, and why the regimes for enforcing settlement agreements and arbitral awards are especially attractive given the global nature of FRAND disputes.