Full Bio
George is the Senior and Managing Partner at Ballas Pelecanos Law. He also heads our firm’s acclaimed Intellectual Property and Data Privacy practice groups, and co-heads our Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Dispute Resolution practice groups. He is a skilled litigator before the civil and administrative Supreme Courts of Greece and a qualified European patent attorney. He is also a longstanding member of the Athens Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the International Trademark Association, the European Patent Institute, the Intenational Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Hellas, and Lexing-Advanced Technology Law Network, the first international network of lawyers dedicated to digital and technology law.
Admitted to the Athens Bar in 1972 after having read law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the University Paris, his 50+ years of experience and expertise are coupled with a continuously robust interest in legal matters.
His multifarious background includes having acted as secretary general of the Greek Parliament, chair of the Public Power Corporation Insurance Board and Chair of the not-for-profit Association for the Establishment of Libraries for Children. He has also served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Public Power Corporation and Fiat Auto Athens S.A.; General Legal counsel at Fiat Auto Hellas S.A.; and Lead Outside Counsel for Greece at Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft Hellas S.A.
In addition to heading our firm’s litigation practice in complex patent, trade mark, design, copyright, passing-off, and anti-counterfeiting cases, George is also a trusted adviser to several high-calibre clients in Greece and abroad. With Greek, English, French and Italian as his working languages, he provides legal advice on developing and managing strategic initiatives for optimising intellectual assets’ protection, exploitation and enforcement.
In the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors, in particular, he has advised on or litigated high-value patent infringements and invalidations, involving medical devices and important active ingredients, such as dimethyl fumarate, paliperidone, octreotide, aripiprazole, lanreotide, sorafenib, exenatide, quetiapine, ibandronate, risperidone, diazepam, paricalcitol, topotecan, zoledronic, herceptin, raloxifene, dorzolamide, tolterodine, valganciclovir, lipegfilgrastim, docetaxel, amlodipine, valsartan, ezetimibe, simvastatin, fingolimod, sitagliptin, vildagliptin, metformin, deferasirox, rivaroxaban, bortezomib, netupitant, palonosetron, semaglutide, apixaban.
Widely recognised by clients and peers alike as one of the most respected IP practitioners and litigators in Greece, he is consistently identified as a Leading Individual, Recommended Lawyer and Highly Recommended Patent Practitioner by internationally acclaimed law firm reviewing organisations, such as the World Trademark Review, IAM Patent 1000, The Legal 500 and Intellectual Asset Management. He is also often invited to author various articles and country chapters for a variety of IP, IT and TMT publications, as well as lecture on patent issues.
