Assistant General Counsel - IP

 

At Bayer we’re visionaries, driven to solve the world’s toughest challenges and striving for a world where 'Health for all Hunger for none’ is no longer a dream, but a real possibility. We’re doing it with energy, curiosity and sheer dedication, always learning from unique perspectives of those around us, expanding our thinking, growing our capabilities and redefining ‘impossible’. There are so many reasons to join us. If you’re hungry to build a varied and meaningful career in a community of brilliant and diverse minds to make a real difference, there’s only one choice.

 

Assistant General Counsel - IP 

 

YOUR TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

The Assistant General Counsel - IP supports inventors and managers in all IP and licensing matters for the divisions they support. They work with the Senior patent counsels to deliver timely and professional advice on IP assets at the respective companies, supporting the companies' business interests, minimizing potential liability claims by third parties and collaborating with the responsible units to ensure the conformity of the companies' IP operations and transactions with statutory provisions, regulations and directives.

 

The primary responsibilities of this role, Assistant General Counsel - IP are to: 

 

• Drafting patent applications together with inventors and filing them with patent offices;

• Tracking granting procedures, including checking and responding to patent reviews and appealing patent rejections;
• Initiating opposition or annulment proceedings against competitors' patents;
• Defending the companies' patents against opposition or annulment proceedings by competitors;
• Preparing expert opinions ("patent landscape reports") on the possible obstruction of planned products and their use, and proceedings resulting from competitors' patents;
• Patent infringement proceedings;
• Advice on IP strategy and its implementation;
• Drafting of agreements (confidentiality/non-disclosure, cooperation and license agreements), participation in contract negotiations.

 

 

WHO YOU ARE

 

 

Bayer seeks an incumbent who possesses the following:

 

 

Required Qualifications:

 

 

• Juris doctorate (JD);
• Excellent command of US patent law, evidenced by registration with the USPTO;
• Knowledge of business administration;
• Ability to draft and evaluate IP-related agreements, especially license agreements;
• Experience in project management.

 

 

Preferred Qualifications:

 

• Science degree, normally MS or PhD;
• Ability to early identify conflicts of interests between organizational units both within and beyond the companies supported and to integrate and coordinate any divergent IP objectives, taking into account legal requirements;
• Ability to promote mutual decision-making despite such conflicts of interest;
• Ability to convince decision-makers in the organizational units, contractual partners, patent offices and courts using objective arguments as part of appropriate negotiating strategies;
• Ability to explain complex legal and technical issues understandably to clients;
• Ability to conduct negotiations and coordinate agreements in line with their functional responsibilities in an international context together with decision-makers from other companies;
• Ability to develop IP strategies in order to protect new or existing products based on an open analysis of the relevant circumstances;
• Ability to draft patent landscape reports;
• Ability to independently implement and track KPIs and targets to optimize the IPR portfolio;
• Ability to independently evaluate company and third-party IP portfolios, especially in the context of mergers and acquisitions;
• Ability to prioritize work independently and on their own responsibility when working on multiple projects with tight deadlines;
• Ability to conduct cor