Álvaro De Castro

Spain flag Spanish - France flag French

17+ years of experience

Language:

English

Spanish (native tongue)
French B2, German A1

Present Function:

Independent lawyer in charge of a solo practitioner law firm, DE CASTRO IP · LEGAL (DE CASTRO), fully devoted to the advice, negotiation and litigation on intellectual property matters

An external partner of Ambar Partners, a firm of independent lawyers that defines itself as a community of over 400 lawyers with backgrounds in top national and international law firms and leading in-house legal departments, where each member is rigorously certified as a true expert in their practice area, sector, and industry

General Expertise:

Certifications and/or licenses

• Madrid Bar Association (ICAM) since 2008.

• Certified instructor for LES100 courses.

Professional legal or litigation experience related to the scope of competence of the PMAC

Professional experience includes over 15 years of uninterrupted experience in the resolution (via court proceedings and/or out-of-court settlements) of disputes relating to, mainly and inter alia, European Patents in all technical fields (though predominantly in the life sciences sector, as well as mechanical patents) within some of the most reputable patent litigation teams in Spain:

• Sep 2010 – Aug 2021: as an entry lawyer, junior associate, associate, and senior associate at the Madrid office of the Spanish law firm Gómez-Acebo and Pombo, where he had the opportunity to participate in cases defending the interests of a wide variety of parties, either locals or foreigners, either large companies, multinationals, public entities, SMEs or even individual inventors, and in all type of roles including patentees, licensees, alleged infringers, claimants for patent revocation, or for breach of contract. Some of these cases were local conflicts, but many of them were relevant multi-jurisdictional international disputes.

• Sep 2021 – Apr 2024: as a Counsel at the Madrid office of the Spanish law firm Pérez-Llorca, where he had a substantial involvement in some of the most significant patent litigation cases taking place before the Spanish courts (which again, were mostly disputes with an international component).

• Apr 2024 – present: as a freelance lawyer, enabling him to take on patent cases with a much more independent and impartial stance, free from the conflicts of interest, business interests, and sectorial alignments that unavoidably typically affect larger firms.

Memberships and/or accreditations

• International Trademark Association (INTA) since 2024 as an individual associate member, and previously within the corporate membership of my former employer Gómez-Acebo and Pombo.
• European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW) since 2021. Previously, regular attendee of the Young EPLAW Congress (since 2012).
• Licensing Executive Society (LES) since 2014. 
• Madrid Bar Association (ICAM) since 2008.

Practical experience of conducting mediation or conciliation or judicial settlement conferences or out-of-court dispute settlements in disputes related to the scope of competence of the PMAC

In the patent cases (and IP cases in general) where he has played a substantial role, there were at least as many cases that ended up in an out-of-court settlement that satisfied both parties, as there were cases terminated by court resolution. And even among those that ended in court resolution, in the vast majority of them, damages and legal costs were entirely settled by a voluntary agreement, to the satisfaction of both parties.