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Yieyie Yang, Ph.D.
Partner
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  • 901 New York Avenue, NW
  • Washington, DC 20001-4413
+1 202 216 5170
yieyie.yang@finnegan.com yieyie.yang@finnegan.com

Yieyie Yang, Ph.D.

Partner

  • +1 202 216 5170 +1 202 216 5170
  • yieyie.yang@finnegan.com yieyie.yang@finnegan.com
  • 901 New York Avenue, NW
  • Washington, DC 20001-4413
  • vCard

Yieyie Yang, Ph.D., focuses on complex patent litigation before U.S. district courts and inter partes review (IPR) proceedings in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological fields. She has experience representing pharmaceutical patent holders in Hatch-Waxman litigations and has drafted numerous appellant and appellee briefs for pharmaceutical clients at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.Yieyie was named by Best Lawyers in its "Ones to Watch" list for excellence in patent law.

Yieyie has handled various aspects of trial preparation, including fact and expert discovery, depositions of key witnesses and experts, and motion practice, along with other pre-litigation due diligence and position analysis. She also has worked on multiple IPR cases on behalf of petitioners or patent owners and has been involved in all aspects of those cases, including developing key arguments, preparing and sitting in expert depositions, drafting expert declarations and key papers, and preparing for oral arguments. In addition, Yieyie has conducted a variety of due diligence analysis in the biotechnological field for licensing, acquisition, freedom-to-operate, and startup fundraising.

Yieyie's scientific background is in molecular and cancer biology. Her graduate research focused on identifying novel genes involved in axon guidance during the development of the nervous system, and her new findings were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. During her post-doctoral research period at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, she studied epigenetic chromatin-remodeling complexes and identified tumor suppressor candidates that interact with oncogenes during cellular transformation and tumorigenesis.

While in law school, Yieyie also paid close attention to the development of Chinese intellectual property law. Her articles on Chinese patent law have been published by peer-reviewed law journals.

Et Cetera

  • Chris Bartok Memorial Award in Patent Law, 2014.
  • Semifinalist, George Washington University Law School Giles S. Rich IP Moot Court Competition, 2014.
  • Third Place, Marcus B. Finnegan Intellectual Property Writing Competition, 2013.
  • Quarterfinalist, George Washington Law School Giles S. Rich IP Moot Court Competition, 2013.
  • Former judicial intern to the Honorable Chief Judge Randall R. Rader, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2013.
  • Coauthor.  "SWAN-1, A Caenorhabditis Elegans WD Repeat Protein of the AN 11 Family, Is a Negative Regulator of Rac GTPase Function," Genetics, Dec. 2006.
  • Coauthor.  "The Action-Binding Protein UNC-115/abLIM Controls Formation of Lamellipodia and Filopodia and Neuronal Morphogenesis in C. Elegans," Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 25, 2005.
  • William King Candlin Memorial Fellowship for Outstanding Senior Graduate Student, 2004.
  • Twomey Memorial Award for Excellence in Physiology and Cell Biology, 2003.

Experience

Grünenthal GmbH et al. v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC et al.

Member of team that represented Grünenthal GmbH in multiple Hatch-Waxman suits involving analgesic drugs Nucynta® and Nucynta® ER; the district court enjoined the defendants from marketing generic versions until patent expiry.

2:13-cv-04507, -06929, -07803; 2:14-cv-03941, -04617; 2:15-cv-06797, D.N.J., Judges Cecchi, Falk

Eli Lilly and Company v. Actavis Labs. UT Inc.

Member of team representing Eli Lilly in Hatch-Waxman action against several defendants relating to Cialis®.

1:16-cv-01119, E.D. Va., Judges Nachmanoff, Trenga

Eli Lilly and Company v. Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Member of team representing Eli Lilly in an appeal from a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision in an IPR case.

IPR2014-00693, -00752, PTAB, Judges Green, Prats, Snedden
16-1547, Fed. Cir., Judges Bryson, Moore, Newman

AstraZeneca LP v. SigmaPharm Laboratories

Member of team representing AstraZeneca in Hatch-Waxman litigations against several defendants involving the blood-thinning drug Brilinta®.

1:15-cv-01000, D. Del., Judge Andrews

Actelion Pharmaceuticals v. ICOS Corp.

Member of team representing ICOS in two IPRs defending their formulation patents.

IPR2015-00561, -00562, PTAB, Judges Mitchell, Snedden, Yang

Eli Lilly and Company v. Teva Pharmaceuticals International

Member of team representing Eli Lilly in multiple IPRs involving antibody patents.

IPR2018-01422; -01423; -01424; -01425; -01426; -01427; -01710, -01711, -01712, PTAB

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Insights

Conference

10th IP Forefront Pharma Forum 10th IP Forefront Pharma Forum

September 17-19, 2025

Shanghai

Conference

9th IP Forefront Pharma Forum 2024 9th IP Forefront Pharma Forum 2024

October 16-18, 2024

Suzhou

Books

Biosimilars Litigation and Client Counseling Biosimilars Litigation and Client Counseling

June 17, 2024

American Bar Association

Conference

2024 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference 2024 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference

June 14-15, 2024

Philadelphia

Articles

Trending at the PTAB: Real Party in Interest and IPR

Trending at the PTAB: Real Party in Interest and IPR Trending at the PTAB: Real Party in Interest and IPR

May 31, 2024

Law360

Webinar

Biosimilars and Interchangeable Biologics: New FDA Draft Guidance Clarifying Application Process for Approval Biosimilars and Interchangeable Biologics: New FDA Draft Guidance Clarifying Application Process for Approval

November 28, 2023

Webinar

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News

Award/Ranking

Best Lawyers Recognizes 44 Finnegan Attorneys in its 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch Best Lawyers Recognizes 44 Finnegan Attorneys in its 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch

August 21, 2025

Best Lawyers

Award/Ranking

31 Finnegan Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers 31 Finnegan Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers

August 15, 2024

Best Lawyers

Commentary

Fed. Circ. OKs Boston Drug Developer's Patent Win Fed. Circ. OKs Boston Drug Developer's Patent Win

March 11, 2024

Law360

Press Release

Finnegan Announces 2024 Partner Class Finnegan Announces 2024 Partner Class

January 2, 2024

Press Release

32 Finnegan Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers

32 Finnegan Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers

August 17, 2023

Best Lawyers

Press Release

ITC Determines Healthgen’s Medium Grade Products Did Not Infringe Ventria’s Patent ITC Determines Healthgen’s Medium Grade Products Did Not Infringe Ventria’s Patent

September 16, 2022

More

Professional Activities

  • AIPLA Quarterly Journal, 2012-2014
  • Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (CBA)
    (executive committee member)
  • George Washington Law Moot Court Board, 2014
Admissions and Education

Admissions

  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • Virginia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Veterans Claims

Education

George Washington University Law School
J.D., 2014
University of Kansas
Ph.D., Molecular Biology, 2005
East China Normal University
M.S., Biochemistry, 2000
XuZhou Normal University
B.S., Biology, with honors, 1997

Languages

  • Chinese (Mandarin)

Yieyie's Practices

Global IP Enforcement, Litigation, and Trials
Branded Hatch-Waxman (ANDA) Litigation and Trials
Federal Circuit and Supreme Court Appeals
Patent Litigation and Trials
Pretrial Strategies
Patent Office Invalidation Proceedings
PTAB Invalidation Proceedings: IPR and PGR

Yieyie's Industries

Chemicals, Industrials, and Materials
Chemical
Life Sciences
Biologics
Biotechnology
Medical Device and Diagnostics
Pharmaceutical

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