Robert J. Koch is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. Mr. Koch is recognized as one of the nation’s leading biotech and chemical patent attorneys and is known for his leadership in a number of the landmark cases in the field. He has more than 40 years of experience in the patent field and has lead litigation teams in all complex Intellectual Property matters including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, unfair competition and copyright. In addition to litigation primarily concentrated in the federal district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), Mr Koch focuses on global IP strategies and solutions to disputes faced equally by his multinational, foreign and domestic representations.
Mr. Koch’s representations have ranged from start-up biotech companies to major US and European chemical and pharmaceutical houses and have included important pioneering biotechnology breakthroughs, practical consumer medical devices, classic blockbuster drugs and chemical engineering technologies. In addition to his work as lead counsel in numerous jury and bench trials in the federal district courts, and his appearances at the CAFC and the ITC, his hands- on IP experience has included preparation and prosecution, opinions, merger and acquisition due diligence, portfolio management, pharmaceutical patent term extensions, counseling, licensing, arbitration, mediation and expert witnessing.
As a leader in his field, Mr. Koch has mentored dozens of intellectual property attorneys and headed full service intellectual property groups for the past 20 years. He frequently speaks and writes on intellectual property topics in both Europe and the Americas and is a member of the CAFC Practice Subcommittee of the Intellectual Property Section of the American Bar Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, ITC Trial Lawyer Association, Washington Patent Lawyers Club, Federation Internationale Des Conseils En Propriete Industrielle and Great Britain’s Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.
Mr. Koch began his career as a professional chemist prior to becoming a patent examiner in the high polymer arts at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In the early 1970’s, he served the German government as a scientific advisor on the basic principles of legal protection of chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology inventions issues at the Max Planck Institute for International Industrial Property and Competition Law in Munich. Later, as a practicing attorney, he handled hundreds of the first patent applications filed under the European Patent Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty.