Hollie Baker is a partner in the firm's Intellectual Property Department, and a member of the firm's interdisciplinary Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group and Life Sciences Group. She joined the firm in 1990. Ms. Baker served as Vice Chair of the IP Department for over 10 years.
Practice
Clients have relied on Ms. Baker's experience and expertise in the patent field for more than 20 years. She assists clients with US and international patent law, involving the life sciences, biotechnology, chemical technologies, and medical devices. Over the years, Ms. Baker has served as IP counsel for a variety of clients in the life sciences community and has worked with them on a broad range of matters, from advising start-up companies in establishing patent prosecution strategies, to guiding established companies in product life cycle management, licensing negotiations, and patent prosecution, enforcement and defense. Ms. Baker advises clients on Hatch Waxman issues, including Section 271(e)(1) safe harbor activity, patent term extension applications and defending Paragraph IV challenges. She also has extensive experience in IP due diligence for venture capital investment, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing agreements.
Highlights
During the last several years, Ms. Baker has acted on matters for numerous clients. The following are representative examples:
Patent Prosecution and Strategy, Due Diligence and Opinions
- Representation of NitroMed, Inc., as general intellectual property and patent prosecution counsel, in filing and prosecuting an extensive patent estate of over 140 US and more than 250 foreign patents and applications, including filing and obtaining patents covering methods of treatment using NitroMed's commercial drug product, BiDil®—which is targeted to the treatment of heart failure in black patients—and worked with the company on the implementation of strategies for product life cycle management.
- Representation of Children's Hospital Boston (Children's Medical Center Corporation) providing strategic advice on the patent portfolio of Dr. Judah Folkman in the angiogenesis field.
- Representation of ThromboGenics on its patent matters related to pharmacological vitreolysis with microplasminogen.
- Representation of other companies in patent prosecution, due diligence and opinions including: Becton Dickinson & Company, The Medicines Company, Medtronic, PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, Organogenesis, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Sepracor and Aquila Pharmaceuticals.
Litigation
- Successfully worked with the trial attorneys as part of the litigation team in the defense of Children's Hospital Boston and Dr. Folkman in patent litigation brought by Abbott.
- Extensively involved in litigation representing innovator drug companies in generic challenges to the branded drug product, including representation of Cephalon (Provigil® and Actiq®), Procter & Gamble (Actonel®), Children’s Hospital Boston (Thalidomid®), Cubist (Cubicin®) and Abbott (Niaspan® and Simcor®).
Experience at Prior Affiliation
From 1985-1990, Ms. Baker was an associate with an IP boutique patent law firm in Washington, DC. While there, she focused on patent prosecution in the biotechnology field for the Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and for other institutions and companies including Life Technology, Inc., Genex Corp., Pioneer Hi-Bred and Cambridge Biotech Corp. In addition, she actively took part in a litigation representing Genentech in its patent infringement lawsuit against Eli Lilly on the Genentech human growth hormone patents, which also involved the enforcement of some of the earliest biotechnology patents.
Professional Activities
Recent Speaking Engagements
Ms. Baker speaks frequently on life science patent law topics. Recent examples include:
- Panel member on "Eye on the Bench: Identifying Judicial Trends in Pharmaceutical Patent Cases" at ACI's 9th annual event, Maximizing Pharmaceutical Patent Life Cycles in New York City, NY, October 15, 2008.
- Panel member on "Strategies and Applications to Implement During All Stages of the Biotech Patent Prosecution Process to Prevent Allegations of Inequitable Conduct" at ACI's 10th Advanced Forum on Biotech Patents in Boston, MA, September 16, 2008.
- Panel member on "Perspectives on Patent Reform" at the symposium for "Synergies Between Intellectual Property and Business: Promoting the Common Good" presented by the BC Law Intellectual Property and Technology Forum, Boston, Massachusetts, April 11, 2008.
- Panel member on "The Future of Patent Prosecution? A discussion of the New Peer-to-Patent Program," at The 7th Annual WilmerHale Intellectual Property Conference: "Examining the Latest Developments in Intellectual Property Law," Boston, Massachusetts, May 16, 2007.
- Co-instructor on "IP Basics," with Dr. Christine Bellon, of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, at the Business Development Basics course sponsored by BIO and LES, Boston, Massachusetts, May 4-6, 2007.
- Faculty, presenter and author on "The Attorney Client Privilege in Intellectual Property Due Diligence," at the seminar, "Current Trends in Biotech Law and Practice," MCLE, Boston, Massachusetts, February 7, 2007.
Professional Recognition and Associations
Ms. Baker is past Member of the Council of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association, and is currently a member of the ABA's special committee on Bioethics and the Law. She is also a member of the Boston Patent Law Association, the Boston Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Licensing Executive Society, the Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (APPI), the Massachusetts Biotechnology Counsel, BIO and the Patent and Trademark Office Society.
Honors and Awards
- Named a "New England Super Lawyer" (formerly "Massachusetts Super Lawyer") in intellectual property in the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 issues of Boston Magazine
