PMAC Director Participates in LES China Annual Conference 2026

Mr Aleš Zalar, Director of the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), participated online in the LES China Annual Conference 2026 in a fireside chat entitled “Mediation/Arbitration/SEPs: New Mechanism to Solve SEP Issues”, alongside Mr Klaus Grabinski, President of the Court of Appeal and Chairperson of the Presidium of the UPC. The discussion was moderated by Mr Heinz Goddar, Past President of Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) and Partner at Boehmert & Boehmert.

During the discussion, Mr Zalar highlighted PMAC’s role in offering flexible and accessible dispute resolution mechanisms for SEP/FRAND disputes, particularly for SMEs. He explained that PMAC’s competence extends beyond the UPC’s judicial competence, allowing parties to address related patent, intellectual property and commercial disputes where a sufficient nexus exists with a matter falling wholly or partly within the UPC’s jurisdiction. This is particularly relevant for SEP licensing disputes, which often involve global patent portfolios and cross-border licensing relationships.

Mr Zalar also emphasised the complementarity of PMAC’s procedures with court proceedings and referred to the ongoing work on a database of FRAND jurisprudence, including Chinese case law.