PMAC Director at PMAC IP & ADR Awareness Seminar

Aleš Zalar, PMAC Director delivered the keynote address at the Seminar on Intellectual Property and Alternative Dispute Resolution Awareness, held in Madrid on 27 October 2026. Following the keynote address, he also took part in Roundtable I, entitled “Choosing the Right Path at PMAC: Mediation, Arbitration, Expert Determination or Litigation?” where other panellists were also Raquel Ballesteros, Independent Arbitrator; Rafael del Castillo, MCIArb, Independent Arbitrator; Camille Lignières, Presiding Judge and Judge-Rapporteur at the Paris Local Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court; Reyes Campello, MCIArb, IP agent, lawyer, mediator and independent arbitrator; and Maria Yolanda San Pastor of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary. The discussion was moderated by Nazareth Romero, PMAC Neutral.

Aleš Zalar presented PMAC as a potential avenue for the future of intellectual property dispute resolution and outlined the options available to disputants and litigants in Spain to make use of PMAC's services. He discussed the key criteria for choosing between mediation, arbitration, expert determination and litigation according to the nature of each dispute. He considered how the parties’ needs, timeframe, costs, confidentiality, specialist expertise and the desired enforceability of the outcome can influence that choice. He also highlighted the importance of a flexible approach that allows parties to select or appropriately combine different dispute resolution mechanisms. UPC Judge Lignières explained the interaction between litigation and ADR at PMAC within the applicable regulatory framework. She also presented the first examples from the Court’s case law concerning the encouragement of parties to refer their dispute to PMAC for resolution.

The seminar increased awareness of PMAC among the Spanish professional community, while the online broadcast also brought its content to a wider international audience.

We thank the event’s co-organisers, CIArb — European Branch, Iberian Chapter; Ovoli Frugoni Romero | Arbitration Litigation; and Madrid Bar Association for their successful collaboration and for making the full event video available here.