This year, ECTA brings something truly dynamic to its Conference programme: a live mock mediation, moderated by Judit Lantos (Lantos Law, Hungary) together with Mr. Sven Stürmann (President of the EUIPO BoA).Learn more about this unique session from Judit:1. Judit, introduce yourself and your link to ECTA.I am Judit Lantos, founder of Lantos Law in Budapest (Hungary), and I currently serve as Chair of the ECTA Mediation Committee. The Committee was established about 1,5 years ago, and I have had the privilege of serving as its first Chair since December 2024.Within ECTA, I have been actively involved for many years, including as former Chair of the WIPO-Link Committee, former Supervisory Board member, former member of the Harmonization Committee and local organizer of the Annual Conference in Budapest in 2017. These roles have allowed me to contribute to different aspects of ECTA’s work and to build strong connections within the IP community.The Mediation Committee is a young and very dynamic Committee, focused on promoting practical, business-oriented dispute resolution. As reflected in our mission, we aim to encourage dialogue, foster communication and support IP professionals in finding commercially meaningful solutions to disputes, beyond purely legal approaches.2. Introduce the topic of your Conference session.Our session is a live mock mediation, based on a realistic EU trade mark dispute between a well-established pharmaceutical company and a fast-growing start-up.Rather than discussing mediation in theory, we will demonstrate how it works in practice, from opening statements to negotiations and, ultimately, settlement. The session will show how legal arguments, business interests, and strategic considerations interact in a mediation setting and how parties can move from confrontation to a constructive solution.3. Introduce the panel of your Conference session.We have an outstanding and diverse panel bringing together practitioners and institutional expertise. The session will be co-moderated with Sven Stürmann, President of the Boards of Appeal at the EUIPO, and myself - we will also act as narrators, guiding the audience through the different phases of the mediation.The mediator will be Alexandra Crawcour, a leading mediator at the EUIPO Mediation Centre, who will lead the process and demonstrate how mediation works in practice. The parties will be represented by two teams:The Italian pharmaceutical company will be represented by Amanda Zahringer, a business advisor and dual-qualified solicitor in Ireland, acting as the client, and Ivett Paulovics, a dual-qualified lawyer in Italy and Hungary based in Milan and Vice-Chair of the ECTA Mediation Committee, acting as external counsel.The Irish start-up company will be represented by Carol Gormley of FRKelly, Ireland, and a member of the Irish Association of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys (APTMA), together with Sean Cummings of Keltie, Ireland, also a member of APTMA. Together, they will bring the dispute to life in a highly interactive and engaging format.4. Why should Conference participants join your session, and at whom in particular will it be directed?This session is for anyone who would like to experience mediation in action rather than only hearing about it in theory. It will be particularly valuable for IP practitioners involved in proceedings before the EUIPO or national courts; for lawyers advising clients on selecting the most appropriate tools to resolve conflicts and achieve flexible, business-oriented solutions beyond the remedies typically available before courts; and for in-house counsels dealing with cross-border disputes. It will also be of particular interest to younger practitioners who wish to better understand negotiation dynamics and alternative dispute resolution.Considering that mediation is increasingly used in IP disputes, it is important for lawyers and IP practitioners to be familiar with this tool so that they can better support their clients as legal representatives in mediation procedures suggested by the authorities or by the adverse party.In this session, participants will gain practical insight into how parties articulate their positions and underlying interests, how a mediator facilitates dialogue and manages the process, and how creative, commercially meaningful solutions can emerge. The format is deliberately interactive and lively, offering an engaging and refreshing alternative to a traditional panel discussion.5. Why should IP colleagues register for the ECTA Annual Conference?The ECTA Annual Conference is one of the key events for IP professionals in Europe and beyond. It combines high-level substantive content with excellent networking opportunities and a strong sense of community.The Dublin programme offers a particularly rich and forward-looking agenda, covering key developments such as AI and its impact across different IP fields, ESG considerations in IP strategy, and sector-specific challenges in areas such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and green technologies. These topics reflect how quickly the IP landscape is evolving and how closely legal, technological and business considerations are now interconnected.In this context, mediation and alternative dispute resolution provide an important complementary perspective, offering tools to address complex, cross-border conflicts in a flexible and commercially meaningful way.Whether you are a long-standing ECTA member or attending for the first time, the Conference is a unique opportunity to stay up to date, exchange ideas and connect with colleagues from across Europe and beyond in a collaborative and engaging environment.To learn more about the Conference and register, please click here.