My solo practice supports life science clients in developing and implementing cost effective strategies to protect, enhance and grow their intellectual property (IP) to meet their business goals. 

 

I take a reasoned, practical, team-oriented and business-focused approach to creating, obtaining and enforcing the IP necessary for my clients to realize their short term and end game objectives in a cost-effective manner.

 

My sincere goal is to be a partner with my clients as they enlist scientific discoveries to make our world a safer, cleaner, more equitable, more sustainable, more profitable, and overall better place to live.

 

Relevant Experiences.  I have decades of diverse corporate, university, government and law firm experiences in the life sciences backed up by excellent scientific and legal educations, all obtained after working in the farming sector during my formative years. 

Some of my past positions include as Biostatistician/Corn Breeder for DeKalb-Pfizer Genetics, Senior Corn Breeder/Senior Station Manager for DeKalb Genetics Intl., and as a Primary Examiner in biotechnology with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.  I also served as an Ocean Systems Technician with the U.S. Navy, was a Biological Aid with USDA and worked parttime as adjunct faculty member at Penn State University-Harrisburg.

Most recently I retired as a Partner and Senior Counsel at Cooley LLP where I worked in patent counseling and prosecution within the patent litigation department for over 15 years.  Prior legal experience includes as an Associate and Partner with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and as a Patent Agent with mid-size and small IP boutiques.      

 

Industry Focus.  During my legal career I worked with clients of all sizes and growth phases in nearly all facets of the life sciences sector, with a particular focus on agricultural biotechnology, plant breeding, food science, climate change, alternative foods, biocides, natural plant growth regulators and protectants, cannabis, mushrooms, and plant-based pharmaceuticals.

 

Representative Matters.  I assist and advise national and international clients on a wide range of IP matters, including patent applications, invalidity opinions, freedoms to operate, due diligences, licensing and other types of negotiations and agreements, and patent offense and defense.  Other of my expertise includes the requirements for biological deposits and access to biodiversity.  My IP work has taken me to countries throughout the world, including but not limited to Bhutan, China, Australia, Philippines, England, Mexico, and Canada.

 

Select Publications

 

•       “IP Protection for Vegetatively Reproduced Plants: New Paths Forward,” 101 J. PAT. & TRADEMARK OFF. SOC’Y 374, June 2021. Co-author

 

•       "Protecting Plant Innovation," Landslide (ABA publication), July/August 2019. Co-author

 

•       “Ensuring a Bountiful IP Yield from Plant Sales,”  Managing Intellectual Property, February 8, 2019. Co-author.

 

•       "Helsinn Confirms Longstanding Law Concerning “On-Sale” Bar," Cooley Alert, January 2019. Co-author.

 

•       "2018 Farm Bill Enacted With Important Provisions for Plant IP and Cannabis-Related Business," Cooley Alert, January 2019. Co-author.

 

•       "Shoots, Leaves and Money Trees," Intellectual Property Magazine, December 2018. Co-author.

•       "Inside the Minds – Trends in Agriculture: GMOs and Organics," Thomson Reuters, August 2016. Co-author.

 

•       "Bioprospecting: a hotspring of legal issues," TheSciTechLawyer, Fall 2012, 4-8. Co-author.

 

•       "Utility patenting of US biotech inventions in non-US countries," Industrial Biotechnology, June 2011, 7(3): 200-205. Co-author.

 

•       "The 'real world' utility of miRNA patents: lessons learned from expressed sequence tags," Nature Biotechnology 2011, 29: 129-133. Co-author.

 

•       "IP Protection of Plant Inventions in the United States, Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte, December 2009, 545-548 (English)

 

 

Select Presentations/Interviews

 

•       “Protecting The Crown Jewels: Parental Inbreds – ASTA Vegetable/Flower Conference, Orlando, FL, Jan.2023. Invited Speaker.

 

•       “Genome Editing and New Breeding Technologies – IP Considerations,” 10^th Conference on IP Protection on Plant Innovation, Amsterdam, December 2-3, 2021.  Invited Speaker (Virtual).

 

•       “Shifting Tokes - Cannabis Related Patents in a Changing World,” 45^th Annual IP Institute: Shifting Tides – Intellectual Property in a Changing World, November 10, 2021. Invited Speaker.

 

•       “Protecting Your Work with Strong Intellectual Property Strategy,” 4^th Annual Cannabinoid Derived Pharmaceuticals Summit, Boston, MA, September 23, 2021.  Invited Panelist. 

 

•       "America’s Newest Crop: IP Protection, Product Development, and Enforcement for Hemp Innovation," Lawline Webinar, June 4, 2020. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "Protecting Plant Innovation: Hemp, CBD & Plant IP Laws Under The 2018 Farm Bill," Lawline Webinar, May 7, 2019. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "Emergence/Reemergence of Hemp as a Major Agricultural Crop." Networking Roundtable, World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, San Francisco, California, March 19-20, 2019. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "IP Protection of Plant Inventions in Emerging Businesses: Balancing Disclosure and Return on Investment," Soybean Breeder's Workshop, St. Louis, Missouri, February 16, 2015. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "Intellectual Property Protection of Plant-Related Inventions," UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy, Davis, California, June 4, 2014 (also participated in 2012). Invited Lecturer.

 

•       "Only in Colorado: IP Issues Related to the Burgeoning Marijuana Industry," Rocky Mountain IP and Technology Institute, Denver, May 29-30, 2014. Invited Speaker.

 

 

•       "IP Protection for Plant Innovation 2013," 6th International Conference, Amsterdam, December 5-6, 2013. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "Licensing Self-Replicating Technologies after Monsanto," IPO Webinar, August 20, 2013. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "Patents Impact Technological Advances and Job Creation, A Leadership Montana Signature Event," Bozeman, Montana, September 13-14, 2012. Invited Speaker.

 

•       "The Myriad Case: Patentability of Isolated Genes and Native Traits, IP Protection for Plant Innovation 2011," 5th International Conference, The FORUM Institut für Management GmbH, Amsterdam, December 8-9, 2011. Invited Speaker.

 

•       Austin, Jim, The America Invents Act for Academic Scientists, Issues and Perspectives, Science Careers from the journal Science, February 2012.  Interviewee for article. 

 

 

Education

 

Georgetown University Law Center

JD, 1998, Leon Robbin Patent Award

 

University of Wisconsin, Madison

PhD, 1985, Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics (major) and Statistics (minor)

 

University of Wisconsin, Madison

MS, 1982, Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics

 

Washington State University

BS, 1980, Agronomy, summa cum laude

 

Admissions & Credentials

 

District of Columbia

Maryland

 

Registered to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)

 

 

Select Memberships

 

American Bar Association

 

American Horticultural Society – past Vice Chair & Chair, Board of Directors

 

American Seed Trade Association

 

Flamingo Gardens – Board of Directors

 

Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance

 

 

 

 

VEIT3IP LLP  ֍  1629 K St., NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 2006  ֍  202-294-6975

 

erich@veit3ip.com                                                                             www.veit3ip.com