Erich E. Veitenheimer, III is a Partner in the Patent Counseling & Prosecution practice group and a member of the Firm's Litigation Department. He joined the Firm in 2005 and is a resident in the Washington DC office. Dr. Veitenheimer specializes in developing and implementing strategies to enable life science and biotech companies, universities and non-profit research organizations to procure worldwide protection for their inventions and/or to provide them with the necessary freedom to operate. He has extensive experience in obtaining and defending patent positions by using practical, cost-effective approaches to resolving patent and trade secret disputes. In addition to integrated and focused patent portfolio management, Dr. Veitenheimer provides counseling to national and international clients for a wide variety of intellectual property matters including opinions, due diligences, licensing negotiations, agreements, patent interferences and oppositions. Dr. Veitenheimer's practice covers a wide variety of technologies, including but not limited to plant breeding, agricultural biotechnology, biocides, natural plant protectants, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and biofuels. His practice also encompasses the ownership and protection of inventions involving biodiversity laws. Prior to joining the Firm, Dr. Veitenheimer was a partner at Morgan Lewis. He holds a PhD in Genetics (major) and Statistics (minor) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He received a BS in Agronomy summa cum laude from Washington State University. Dr. Veitenheimer served as an Ocean Systems Technician in the U.S. Navy, held positions as a plant breeder/biostatistician with DeKalb-Pfizer Genetics and as a senior corn breeder with DeKalb Genetics International, and was a Primary Patent Examiner in the biotechnology group of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Dr. Veitenheimer is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center where he received the Leon Robbin Patent Award. He is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in the jurisdictions of Maryland and the District of Columbia. He has an established record of pro bono work and legal leadership roles and presently serves as Chair of the Pro Bono Committee for the Firm's DC office.