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Dr. Birgit Millauer provides sophisticated intellectual property advice to companies specializing in the life sciences. Before joining Chao Hadidi Stark & Barker, Birgit worked at major law firms including Dorsey & Whitney, and Fish and Richardson; she began her law career at the IP boutique Pennie & Edmonds.

During her fifteen years of practice, she has represented a number of American and European pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients and research institutions. Birgit’s experience includes strategic portfolio management, patent prosecution, freedom-to-operate studies, infringement and validity analyses, patent due diligence, patent portfolio evaluation, opposition and interference proceedings, patent appeals, patent litigation and intellectual property-related transactions.

Before entering the field of law, Birgit conducted postdoctoral scientific research at the Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie in Martinsried, Germany, and at Sugen Inc., in Redwood City, California. She has published groundbreaking work on the genetics and biochemistry of angiogenesis and, most notably, was co-inventor of a commercial cancer drug.

Birgit has been a regularly invited lecturer at Stanford University, and has spoken at conferences about fields where science and law converge. She is also fluent in German (verbal and written) and has a basic knowledge of French.

Representative Experience

• Strategized and prosecuted intellectual property portfolios covering vaccines, biologics (such as therapeutic antibodies), combinatorial library technologies (such as phage display and small molecule libraries), small molecule therapeutics, diagnostics, proteomics, transgenic plants, microbiology, virology, immunology, oncology, microarray technologies, gene therapy, molecular and cellular biology, antibiotics, drug delivery, formulations, DNA technologies, imaging technologies, and medical devices.

• Represented clients in interference proceedings, including representation of the German Cancer Research Center in the HPV16 vaccine (cervical cancer vaccine) interference against the NIH, which resulted in favorable settlement for the client.

• Conducted freedom to operate analyses for a large variety of products and technologies, including complex products (such as therapeutic antibodies), and mixed technology products (such as diagnostic apparatuses with software allowing diagnostic tests to run against multiple infectious agents simultaneously).

• In connection with freedom to operate analyzes, advised on alternative routes in product development that would avoid expensive licenses or litigation.

• Prepared opinions analyzing and evaluating validity and infringement of patents, and patentability of inventions.

• Conducted intellectual property due diligence in connection with technology transactions, including evaluation of patent portfolios and license agreements.

• Advised in intellectual property-related transactions, including negotiating settlement agreements, license agreements, assignments, and consulting agreements.

• Provided litigation support, including expert preparation, claim interpretation, Markman hearings, and discovery matters.

• Represented a number of major pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients both in the US and Europe.

Selected Legal Publications

Millauer, The § 102(b) Foreign Filing Catch, Law 360, New York (January 28, 2010).

Selected Scientific Publications

Ullrich, A., Holzmann, B., Bossenmaier, B., Herbst, R., Jallal, B., Redemann, N., Millauer, B., Lammers, R., and Seedorf, K. (1990). Transduction of oncogenic signals by growth factor receptors. J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol. 116, 931.

Ullrich, A., Lammers, R., Millauer. B., Mosthaf, L., and Seedorf, K. (1990). Growth factor receptor mediated signal transduction. Cell Biol. Int. Rep. 14, 34.

Seedorf, K., Felder, S., Millauer, B., Schlessinger, J., and Ullrich, A. (1991). Analysis of platelet-derived growth factor receptor domain function using a novel chimeric receptor approach. J. Biol. Chem. 266, 12424-12431.

Seedorf, K., Millauer, B., Kostka, G., Schlessinger, J., and Ullrich, A. (1992). Differential effects of carboxy-terminal sequence deletions on platelet-derived growth factor receptor signaling activities and interactions with cellular substrates. Mol. Cell. Biol. 12, 4347-4356.

Millauer, B., Wizigman-Voos, S., Schnürch, H., Martinez, R., Møller, N.P.H., Risau, W., and Ullrich, A. (1993). High affinity VEGF binding and developmental expression suggests Flk-1 as a major regulator of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. Cell 72, 835-846. Chosen for cover-illustration of issue.

Plate, K.-H., Breier, G., Millauer, B., Ullrich, A., and Risau, W. (1993). Upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor and its cognate receptors in a rat glia model of tumor angiogenesis. Cancer Research 53, 5822-5827.

Millauer, B., Shawver, L., Plate, K.-H., Risau, W., and Ullrich, A. (1994). Inhibition of angiogenesis by a dominant-negative Flk-1 mutant suppresses glioblastoma tumour growth in vivo. Nature 367, 576-579.

Ciossek, T., Millauer, B., and Ullrich, A. (1995). Multiple isoforms of MDK1, a novel receptor tyrosine kinase, are predominantly expressed in the murine nervous system. Oncogene 9, 97-108.

Alves, F., Vogel, W., Mossie, K., Millauer, B., Höfler, H., and Ullrich, A. (1995). Distinct structural characteristics of discoidin I subfamily receptor tyrosine kinases and complementary expression in human cancer. Oncogene 10, 609-618.

Millauer, B., Longhi, M.P., Plate, K.-H., Shawver, L.K., Risau, W., Ullrich, A., and Strawn, L. (1996). Dominant-negative inhibition of Flk-1 suppresses the growth of many tumor types in vivo. Cancer Research 56, 1615-1620.

Selected Presentations/Invited Speaker

May 15-16, 1997 in Munich, Germany: Round Table Meeting for the “Promotion of Bio-Technology Transfer between Academic Research Institutions and Industry,” organized by the Fraunhofer Institut and BioM.

April 12, 2005 in Seattle: Seminar “Polish your Presentation,” for CEOs, organized for companies presenting at the Invest Northwest conference.

December 1-2, 2005 in Bonn, Germany: “CEO and CFO Meeting,” organized by BIO Deutschland.

February 4, 2008 at Stanford University: “Basics for Managing your Intellectual Property Portfolio.”

February 10, 2009 at Stanford University: “Protecting Intellectual Property In the Area of Drug Delivery and medical devices.”

February 20, 2009 at Fish & Richardson’s Patents for Clients and Prospects in Munich, Germany: “Privilege, Opinions and Willfulness Issues in U.S. Patent Law.”

January 25, 2010 at Stanford University: “Managing Intellectual Property.”

Education
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Vordiplom Biology 1986
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Diplom Genetics 1990
Max-Planck Institut für Biochemie/Eberhard-Karls-University Ph.D. Biology 1994
Santa Clara University J.D. 1999
Fluent in German (verbal and written)

Bar Memberships
Birgit is admitted to practice in the state of California and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She is a member of the AIPLA, the ABA and the Bar Association of San Francisco.

Our offices in California and Massachusetts provide the following services:

Patent Litigation

Patent Reexamination

Appellate Litigation

Patent Portfolio Analysis

Intellectual Property Sales and
  Licensing

Validity and Infringement
  Investigations

Representation Before the
  Board of Patent Appeals and
  Interference

Corporate Contract Review
  and Negotiation

Corporate Support for
  International, M&A, and
  Human Resources Matters