EducationUniversity of Illinois College of Law (J.D., 2008), magna cum laude University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M.B.A., 2000) U.S. Military Academy at West Point (B.S.M.E., 1996)
For over a dozen years, Mike has represented clients across a broad spectrum of intellectual property disciplines, including the procurement, analysis, and enforcement of utility and design patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. A registered patent attorney, Mike has served as lead counsel in patent and trademark cases in multiple federal courts, has second-chaired a patent litigation case through a successful multi-week jury trial, and has handled numerous appeals. He has also been involved in several successful proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board. As a member of the Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Mike has gained high-quality and in-depth experience on both the litigation and transactional sides of intellectual property.
On the transactional side, he manages global patent and trademark portfolios for several firm clients, and has obtained patent rights for clients in various technical disciplines throughout the mechanical, electrical and computer science disciplines. Mike also has advised clients on hundreds of patents in the context of acquisition due diligence, license negotiations, and non-infringement/invalidity analyses. He has also led successful licensing campaigns to monetize patent portfolios he has helped create. Mike is also a patentee himself, having obtained U.S. Pat. No. 10,939,269 covering a unique public display system he invented.
A graduate of West Point, Mike served overseas in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for several years. Including time prior to law school, he has spent the past twenty years either working as a designer or engineer or with designers and engineers. Clients value that Mike tailors his work to every circumstance and customizes services based on their distinctive needs and situations.
Mike was listed as a Rising Star in Illinois Super Lawyers beginning in 2016, and was recently recommended by The Legal 500 U.S. for his work in Trademark Litigation. Mike co-chairs the firm’s Industrial and Manufacturing focus group. When time allows, Mike practices education law in a pro bono capacity for parents of special needs children, helping them obtain access to a meaningful education under the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Related to his pro bono work, Mike is the author of Raising Special Children: A Guide to the Road Less Travelled, available through Amazon.com and Kindle.
Litigation
Mike has helped clients enforce their intellectual property and has defended them against infringement claims in federal courts all around the country. A sampling of Mike’s litigation work includes:
- Defending a firm client in a multi-jurisdictional patent and trade secret dispute involving beamforming microphone array technology. (N.D. Ill., D. Del., PTAB, 2017 to present)
- Obtained preliminary and permanent injunctions halting the flow of infringing counterfeit speakers into the United States through a patent infringement case, and successfully seized the assets of the infringers held with U.S.-based online marketplaces. (N.D. Ill., 2019)
- Obtained summary judgment for vacation property booking client and permanent injunction forcing the client’s larger competitor to change its name and stop infringing the client’s registered trademark. (N.D. Ill., 2017; 172 U.S.P.Q.2d 1514)
- Saved wireless technology client from a $750,000 patent infringement judgment levied prior to Mike joining the case by drawing the Court’s attention to procedural flaws and new evidence, and convincing the Court to set aside the judgment. (S.D. Cal., 2017)
- Obtained preliminary injunction for a client in the paintball industry that halted a leading competitor’s sale of paintballs that infringe the client’s distinctive trade dress. (D.N.J., 2016)
- Won a jury trial finding willful infringement of a patent covering high voltage x-ray transformers after successfully challenging an initial unfavorable summary judgment ruling before the Federal Circuit. (W.D.N.C., 2016)
Transactional
Mike advises and assists individual inventors, Fortune 100 companies, and clients of all sizes in between on customized strategies for protecting their intellectual property and limiting the risks posed by others. A sampling of Mike’s transactional work includes:
- Managing and enforcing a large patent and trademark portfolio covering certain fungicide products and technology across over ninety countries for the agricultural arm of a global conglomerate.
- Constructed and executed a highly successful patent licensing campaign for a client that has enabled them to place nearly 95% of the promotional products market under licenses covering the sale of more than 100 million stylus pens per year. Mike has also defended and maintained the underlying patents, which he authored, through multiple PTAB challenges.
- Drafted and/or negotiated hundreds of service agreements controlling the design, manufacture, and/or logistical aspects of product development for clients on the receiving or the providing side of the transaction, with emphasis on handling and safeguarding the underlying intellectual property.
- Developed a disclosure mining program for a global technology company in the employment space that has drastically increased their invention disclosures and number of in-process patent applications over the past 18 months.
- "Notable Veteran Executives," Crain's Chicago Business, 2021
- The Legal 500 United States, recommended in “Trademarks: Litigation,” 2020
- Illinois Super Lawyers, recommended in “Intellectual Property,” 2016-2018
Bar Admissions
- Illinois
- Tennessee
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar)
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Mike has been admitted pro hac vice and been involved in cases around the country, including California, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.
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