Michael is a Patent Attorney, and practices prosecution, counseling, and litigation.
Michael spent most of his career in patent law at Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck in Washington, D.C, where he was a Law Clerk, Associate and then Partner at the firm. He also was patent counsel in the U.S. patent group of Akzo Nobel Pharma, a Dutch pharmaceutical company which comprised Organon, Organon Teknika, and Internet.
Michael’s practice during his career of more than twenty years has included patent preparation and prosecution, litigation, counseling, opinion writing, licensing, and due diligence. While at Rothwell Figg, Michael litigated a number of cases, including several ANDA Paragraph IV cases for a generic drug company and a case for a medical device company. Michael’s experience and successes in patent litigation include:
- Deposed and defended fact and expert witnesses, including inventors, a prosecuting attorney, a patent expert, and technical experts including a physician and a world renowned scientist
- Successfully opposed a motion for summary judgment of infringement in an ANDA litigation involving a blockbuster drug
- Uncovered evidence in an expert report of the opponent’s expert that contradicted his testimony and was used to impeach the expert at trial, in an ANDA litigation involving a blockbuster drug
- Prepared a motion for summary judgment of infringement and elicited deposition testimony from an inventor establishing infringement by the accused medical device, which resulted in a favorable settlement for the client
Michael also has written many opinion letters relating to infringement and validity, in various fields including pharma and biotech, medical devices, and trade dress. While at Akzo Nobel, Michael counseled scientists and the European patent group of the company, and prepared and prosecuted patents relating to pharma and biotech.
Prior to law school, Michael was a biologist at the National Institutes of Health, NICHHD, where he worked for Dr. Heiner Westphal in the Laboratory of Mammalian Genes and Development using transgenic mice as research models.