All Professionals
Overview
Eric W. Dittmann is Global Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property practice at Paul Hastings, overseeing the firm’s 100-plus lawyer IP group. Mr. Dittmann has significant first-chair experience in patent litigations, arbitrations, and post-grant proceedings involving a broad range of technologies, including in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device fields. He has been recognized as a leading patent litigator by numerous publications, including Chambers USA, Lawdragon, The Legal 500, IAM Patent 1000, Benchmark Litigation, LMG Life Sciences, and Managing Intellectual Property.
Recognitions
- Ranked by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property: Patent in New York (2021-2023) with clients noting “Eric is always one step ahead and comes back ASAP with the answers we need.” In previous editions, he has been lauded for “his patent litigation expertise,” with referees noting that he is “highly strategic” and “phenomenal in all respects - he has a mastery of the subject matter and is an extremely effective and persuasive litigator.”
- Recognized in The Legal 500 (2021-2023) as a “pharmaceuticals expert” that “has a great knowledge of both legal and scientific issues and has a great ability to maintain full control over complex and diversified cases.” Also noted as “a subject matter expert who is very practical to the needs of the client,” “great at thinking through and explaining strategy,” and for “work[ing] tirelessly for his clients.”
- Named as one of Law360’s 2023 MVPs for Life Sciences.
- Named a Litigator Star and National Practice Area Star by Benchmark Litigation USA 2024.
- Ranked as one of the world’s leading patent practitioners by IAM Patent 1000 (2018-2023), Mr. Dittmann has received top-tier rankings and noted for “performing at a championship level for Boehringer Ingelheim" and leading L’Oréal to a “total victory” in a case filed by the University of Massachusetts and Carmel Laboratories.
- Listed in Lawdragon, 500 Leading Litigators in America (2022-2023).
- Recognized as General Patent Litigator of the Year – New York (2023) and shortlisted for General Patent Litigator of the Year (2022) by LMG Life Sciences.
- Patent Impact Case of Year – United States: University of Massachusetts v L’Oréal (CAFC 2022) by LMG Life Sciences (2023).
- Shortlisted for Litigator of the Year: New York by Managing Intellectual Property in both 2022 and 2023.
- Recognized as a Life Sciences Star by LMG Life Sciences (2016-2023).
- Recognized as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property (2018-2023).
- Recognized as a Litigation Star and National Practice Area Star for Intellectual Property by Benchmark Litigation Guide (2020-2023).
- Received a 2019 Trailblazers award from New York Law Journal for “obtaining six walk-away consent judgments from generics infringing patents relating to Boehringer’s blood thinning drug, Pradaxa.”
- Named a Rising Star in Life Sciences by Law360 in 2015 for “securing several high-stakes and precedent-setting victories in intellectual property battles over blockbuster pharmaceuticals,” including “craft[ing] the brilliant strategy that resulted in” the Lunesta® litigation win.
- Included in the 2015 edition of Benchmark Litigation’s Under 40 Hot List.
- Two-time Legal Lion, Law360.
Education
- Seton Hall Law School, J.D., 2000 (summa cum laude, Associate Editor of the Seton Hall Law Review)
- Rutgers University College of Engineering, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 1997 (with High Honors)
Representations
- As lead counsel for Mitsubishi Tanabe, successfully conducted the first-ever Zoom Hatch-Waxman trial in the District of New Jersey, where all invalidity challenges to patents protecting Mitsubishi Tanabe’s blockbuster Invokana® diabetes medication were rejected and important precedent was established relating to patent term adjustments.
- As lead counsel for L’Oréal USA, obtained a claim construction ruling that wiped out the infringement theory for all 130 L’Oréal USA products accused of infringement by the University of Massachusetts and Carmel Laboratories relating to patents covering methods of using adenosine.
- As lead counsel for Mitsubishi Tanabe in an international arbitration involving a multi-billion-dollar royalty dispute, obtained a final award rejecting every challenge to the IP license agreement at issue as well as $22 million in costs.
- As co-lead counsel for Helsinn Healthcare, prevailed in two separate trials relating to challenges to patents protecting Helsinn's Aloxi® antiemetic drug franchise brought by more than 20 generics in multiple courts, the last of which ultimately settled on favorable terms to our client.
- As lead counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim, successfully briefed and argued two IPR petitions resulting in the invalidation of method-of-treatment claims covering the drug product Humira®, both of which were affirmed on appeal.
- Obtained a precedent-setting judgment of infringement and dismissal of all inequitable-conduct defenses in one of the largest-ever Hatch-Waxman cases relating to client Sunovion’s Lunesta® sleep medication.
- Served as co-lead counsel in obtaining walk-aways from six separate generics for Boehringer Ingelheim in Hatch-Waxman litigation involving its blockbuster Pradaxa® stroke medication.
- Served as lead counsel for Mitsubishi Tanabe in defeating challenges brought by multiple generics to Mitsubishi Tanabe’s patent covering Gilenya®, the first-ever oral multiple sclerosis treatment, which established new law relating to the obviousness-type double patenting doctrine.
- Served as co-lead counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim in connection with BPCIA litigation relating to its biosimilar version of Humira®, which ultimately settled on favorable terms to our client.
- Served as Helsinn Healthcare's lead counsel in defeating two PGR petitions relating to its Aloxi® drug franchise.
- Served as lead counsel for BioMarin Pharmaceutical in appeals stemming from interference rulings relating to antisense oligonucleotides for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which ultimately resulted in a settlement that included a $35 million up-front payment and ongoing royalties to our client.
- Served as lead counsel for DARA BioSciences and Helsinn Healthcare against claims that their Gelclair® oral mucositis treatment infringed a polymer-matrix patent, ultimately securing a favorable settlement.
- Obtained a reversal of a judgment of patent invalidity concerning Boehringer Ingelheim’s Mirapex® drug product for treating Parkinson’s disease, which established new law concerning the safe harbor exception to the obviousness-type double patenting doctrine.
- Served as trial counsel for Pfizer (Wyeth) and Takeda (Nycomed) in a successful jury trial concerning a validity challenge to the patent covering the companies’ $2 billion-dollar-per-year Protonix® acid-reflux medication.
- Currently serving as lead counsel for AbbVie and its subsidiary Allergan in connection with patent infringement lawsuit asserting AbbVie’s Botox® patent portfolio against Revance Therapeutics.
- Currently representing COVID-19 vaccine developer BioNTech SE in defending against multiple patent infringement lawsuits involving mRNA technology.
- Currently serving as lead counsel for Helsinn Healthcare in defending against generic challenge to patents protecting Akenzyo®, an innovative intravenous treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
- Currently serving as lead counsel for bluebird bio and Third Rock Ventures in defending against a patent infringement dispute relating to bluebird’s innovative Zynteglo® gene-therapy product for treating beta-thalassemia.
- Currently serving as lead counsel for JSR Corporation in defending against patent infringement claims brought by Cytiva Bioprocess R&D AB relating to antibody purification technology.
- Advising numerous pharmaceutical companies regarding anticipated challenges to their small-molecule and biologic drug products.
Involvement
- Served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Alan D. Lourie of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Member of the State Bars of New York and New Jersey and admitted to practice before the Federal Circuit, the District of New Jersey, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.