Overview
Eric W. Dittmann is global co-chair of the Intellectual Property practice at Paul Hastings, where he oversees the firm’s 100-plus lawyer IP group. Recognized as one of the nation’s leading IP litigators, Eric possesses extensive first-chair experience representing clients in patent litigations, post-grant proceedings, arbitrations, and appellate disputes across a wide range of technologies, with a particular emphasis on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. He is regularly trusted by some of the world’s most prominent companies to lead their most critical and business-defining IP disputes. Clients praise him as “an excellent attorney who brings a brilliant strategic mind to every issue” and “an excellent strategist and litigator” (Chambers USA 2025 — Intellectual Property: Patent).
Eric has repeatedly secured high-profile victories that have set significant legal precedents and garnered national industry and media attention. In a biologics jury trial win for AbbVie/Allergan in Delaware federal court, his team established infringement of three Botox®-related patents and obtained $56 million in damages based on a 27% reasonable royalty — tied for the highest percentage ever awarded in a pharmaceutical patent case. He also prevailed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Allergan v. MSN Laboratories, a decision that reshaped the doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting and safeguarded patents critical to Allergan’s Viberzi® franchise. This case was named “2025 Impact Case of the Year” at both the Managing IP Americas Awards and the LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards.
Eric and his teams also secured a complete summary judgment defense win for bluebird bio Inc. and affiliates in a $2 billion patent dispute with San Rocco Therapeutics; a series of bet-the-company successes for JSR Life Sciences across district court, PTAB, and Federal Circuit proceedings; and a seven-year ITC exclusion order for Viking Therapeutics that led to a “Litigator of the Week” recognition by The American Lawyer. He has also played a leading role in BioNTech’s ongoing global COVID-19 vaccine patent disputes. Beyond the life sciences sector, Eric has also spearheaded semiconductor litigation for Inpria (a subsidiary of JSR Corporation), including defeating a preliminary injunction motion that threatened to derail a $6.4 billion acquisition by a Japanese government-controlled entity.
Eric’s achievements have been recognized by many of the industry’s leading legal directories and publications. Chambers USA 2025 ranks him in both Nationwide Intellectual Property and New York Intellectual Property: Patent. He has also been named “2025 Litigator of the Year — New York” by Managing IP; ranked Highly Commended as “Patent Litigator of the Year” at the Life Sciences Patent Network Awards USA; and recognized by LMG Life Sciences as its “2025 Appellate Litigator of the Year — Intellectual Property” and as a finalist for “2025 General Patent Litigator of the Year — New York.” His additional recognitions include repeated listings in Managing IP’s “IP STARS,” as well as in WIPR Leaders, the IAM Patent 1000, and Benchmark Litigation, where he has been honored as both a “Litigation Star” and “National Practice Area Star for Intellectual Property.” Under Eric’s leadership as global IP practice co-chair, Paul Hastings was also named “2025 Intellectual Property Firm of the Year” at the LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards and a finalist for “2025 Intellectual Property Litigation Department of the Year” by the New York Law Journal.
Before entering private practice, Eric served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Alan D. Lourie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Accolades
- The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily, Litigator of the Week (Nov. 22, 2024) and multiple runner-up recognitions (Aug. 20, 2024; Dec. 6, 2024; Mar. 21, 2025)
- Chambers USA, Intellectual Property: Patent in New York (2021-25)
- Chambers USA, Intellectual Property Nationwide (2025)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2022-25)
- Benchmark Litigation, Litigation Star and National Practice Area Star for Intellectual Property (2020-25)
- Managing IP, Patent Star in New York and United States (National) (2020-25)
- IAM Patent 1000, Gold-ranked individual for New York (2018-25)
- LMG Life Sciences, 2025 Appellate Litigator of the Year — Intellectual Property
- LMG Life Sciences, Life Sciences Star (2016-24)
- LMG Life Sciences, General Patent Litigator of the Year (2023)
- Law360, 2023 Life Sciences MVP
- Law360, Five-Time Legal Lion (2016, 2017, 2017, 2024, 2025)
- New York Law Journal, Trailblazers Award (2019)
Through these achievements, Eric has established a reputation not only as a premier litigator but also a strategic leader who helps clients navigate high-stakes disputes and drives the continued growth of one of the market’s most respected IP practices.
Education
- Seton Hall Law School, J.D. (summa cum laude)
- Rutgers University, B.S., Mechanical Engineering (High Honors)
Representations
- Lead counsel for AbbVie/Allergan in establishing infringement of three Botox®-related patents in a federal Delaware jury trial and obtaining $56 million in damages to date based on a 27% reasonable royalty, earning a “Litigator of the Week” runner-up distinction in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily (on appeal).
- Lead counsel for AbbVie/Allergan in securing a precedent-setting appellate ruling in the nationally-watched, industry-tracked Federal Circuit decision in Allergan v. MSN Laboratories, which protects first-filed, first-issued patents from obviousness-type double patenting challenges, and reversed the District Court’s finding that patents protecting AbbVie’s Viberzi® drug product lacked written description support. This was a highly consequential decision that earned Eric LMG Life Science’s 2025 “Intellectual Property Appellate Litigator of the Year” title, recognition by Law360 as one of its “Legal Lions,” and also earned Paul Hastings’ IP practice a “Litigator of the Week” runner-up distinction in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily and the distinction of “Impact Case of the Year” at both Managing IP’s and LMG Life Science’s 2025 Americas Awards.
- Lead counsel for Mitsubishi Tanabe in successfully conducting the first-ever Zoom Hatch-Waxman trial in the District of New Jersey, where all challenges to patents protecting Mitsubishi Tanabe’s blockbuster Invokana® diabetes medication were rejected.
- Lead counsel for L’Oréal USA in obtaining a ruling that wiped out an infringement theory for all 130 L’Oréal USA products accused of infringement by the University of Massachusetts relating to patents covering methods of using adenosine.
- Lead counsel for Mitsubishi Tanabe in an international arbitration involving the innovative drug product Gilenya®, ultimately obtaining a final award directing that $2 billion in royalties be paid to Mitsubishi Tanabe and awarding more than $22 million in fees and costs.
- Co-lead counsel for Viking Therapeutics in securing a precedent-setting win and a seven-year exclusion order from the ITC against Ascletis in a first-of-its-kind, bet-the-company Section 337 ITC investigation and District Court litigation against Chinese entities. Those entities were accused of misappropriating hundreds of trade secrets and breaching a contract based on theft of proprietary information involving pharmaceutical formulations and clinical/preclinical information relating to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatments. This victory earned the Paul Hastings team the “Litigator of the Week” distinction by The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily (on appeal).
- Lead counsel for JSR Life Sciences in securing a complete victory dismissing all patent claims brought by competitor Cytiva BioProcess in the District of Delaware over JSR’s chromatography products. Eric and his team also prepared six IPRs challenging each of Cytiva’s asserted claims on two independent sets of prior art grounds and, after oral argument at the PTAB, obtained an outcome resulting in all but four claims being found unpatentable. On appeal, the Federal Circuit invalidated those remaining claims, providing JSR with a resounding win.
- Lead counsel for bluebird bio Inc. and Third Rock Ventures in first securing summary judgment of noninfringement in a federal Delaware patent infringement action brought by San Rocco Therapeutics (SRT) stemming from a previously settled dispute relating to viral vectors used in gene therapies, including bluebird’s then-recently approved Zynteglo® and Lyfgenia® products. This followed on the heels of an early dismissal of a complex trade secrets dispute filed by SRT against bluebird bio Inc., Third Rock Ventures, 2seventy bio, and multiple individual defendants in Massachusetts federal court alleging multiple RICO violations premised on alleged trade secrets theft, mail and wire fraud, as well as alleged violations of federal and state antitrust laws.
- Lead counsel for Inpria Corporation and JSR Corporation in successfully defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction brought by The Research Foundation for the State University of New York threatening Inpria’s very existence by seeking to enjoin Inpria’s use of dozens of patents and potentially precluding a planned acquisition of JSR (Inpria’s parent) in a $6.4 billion transaction by Japan Investment Corporation, a Japanese government-backed fund whose investments are overseen by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
- Co-lead counsel for Helsinn Healthcare in prevailing in two separate trials relating to challenges to patents protecting Helsinn’s Aloxi® antiemetic drug product brought by more than 20 generics in multiple courts, the last of which ultimately settled on favorable terms, as well as in defeating two PGR petitions relating to its Aloxi® drug franchise.
- Lead counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim in successfully briefing and arguing two IPR petitions resulting in the invalidation of method-of-treatment claims covering the drug product Humira®, both of which were affirmed on appeal.
- Co-lead counsel in obtaining walk-aways from six separate generics for Boehringer Ingelheim in Hatch-Waxman litigation involving its blockbuster Pradaxa® stroke medication.
- Counsel for AbbVie and Genentech jointly in securing the complete resolution of a Hatch-Waxman litigation protecting Venclexta®, a drug approved for various indications relating to the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, and acute myeloid leukemia, which followed a resounding victory relating to a PGR and an IPR challenge by one of the generic challengers.
- Counsel for Sunovion in obtaining a precedent-setting judgment of infringement and dismissal of all inequitable-conduct defenses in defending Sunovion’s Lunesta® franchise.
- 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.
- Co-lead counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim in connection with BPCIA litigation relating to its biosimilar version of Humira®, which ultimately settled on favorable terms.
- 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 favorable settlement that included a $35 million up-front payment and ongoing royalties.
Accolades
Involvement
- Judicial law clerk, the Honorable Alan D. Lourie, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Member, 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.