George Ballas

Practice Groups:

• IP, IT & CT Group (Practice Group Head)

Born in 1949 in Athens, George is Senior and Managing Partner at “Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates L.P.C.” and Head of the firm’s prominent IP, IT & CT practice group.

George read law at the Universities of Athens and Paris and was admitted to practice in Athens in 1972.

His diverse career includes holding the posts of Secretary General at the Hellenic Parliament (1981-1985), Chairman of the Insurance Board of the Public Power Corporation (1985-1987) and Chairman of the Not-for-Profit Association for the Establishment of Libraries (1979-2000). He has also served as General Legal Counsel at Fiat Auto Hellas S.A. (1975-1995), as well as Member of the Board of Directors of the Public Power Corporation (1985-1987) and Fiat Auto Athens S.A (1976-1988). He is also well-known for his work as the Lead Outside Counsel for Greece at Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft Hellas S.A. (1992 – today)

He is a member of the Athens Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the International Trademark Association, an advocate before the Supreme Courts of Greece, as well as a qualified European Patent attorney. In addition to heading the firms litigation practice in complex pharmaceutical patents and anti-counterfeiting cases, he regularly advises clients in developing and managing strategic initiatives for optimizing intellectual assets protection, exploitation and enforcement. He has authored articles and contributed country chapters to a variety of IP, IT & CT publications and has lectured on patent issues.

Languages: Greek, English, French, Italian