Michael focuses on all areas of intellectual property law, providing his clients with full- service IP expertise that ranges from patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret litigation to IP-related transactions – including licensing and monetization – to helping companies to protect and reap maximum value from their own innovations and brands. In addition to being Counsel in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group, he also Co-Chair’s the firm’s Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice Group Group and Chairs the firm’s Trade Secret Practice Group. He is also a member of wiggin(x). 

Michael develops effective offensive and defensive IP strategies for organizations of all sizes. He has asserted and defended IP rights in federal courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the International Trade Commission, and in private arbitrations and mediations. As an advisor, he has worked with both established companies and startups to obtain, value, license, and develop patent, trademark and trade secret portfolios.

Trained in electrical engineering and bringing a business background as a technology consultant, Michael is known for his ability to quickly learn new technologies and distill complicated topics. He works with a broad range of technologies, including consumer electronics, wireless and mobile devices, batteries, mechanical devices, healthcare and medical devices, computer architecture, software, and networks, including open-source software, semiconductor chips, internet and e-commerce platforms, software apps, and blockchain, NFT and decentralized finance related technologies.

Michael was listed as one of the world’s-leading IP Strategists in the 2013 and 2017 – 2024 editions of IAM Strategy 300 – The World’s Leading IP Strategists and has regularly been listed in Super Lawyers. Clients describe him as creative, energetic, and easy to work with and seek his insight into the business, technology, and legal facets of their IP issues.

Over his twenty years legal career, Michael has defended and resolved scores of patent infringement lawsuits, resulting in successful motions to dismiss, summary judgment, and favorable settlements, in all of the key patent infringement venues, including the District of Delaware, the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the Northern and Central Districts of California, and the Northern District of Illinois, as well as at the International Trade Commission, for clients such as Panasonic Corporation and JVC Kenwood Corporation.  He has also helped clients to invalidate key patents before the US Patent and Trademark Office in Inter Partes Review proceedings. For example, Michael helped to invalidate patents via IPR that were held by VirnetX, which had previously won verdicts in the hundreds of millions of dollars from industry giants such as Apple.

Michael also advises clients on strategic patent and trademark prosecution and portfolio development as well as trade secret portfolio development and protection, and provides opinions and analyses on various issues, including patent and trademark infringement, validity, and enforceability. He also drafts, negotiates and advises clients on a range of agreements with IP-related aspects, including employment agreements, third party contractor agreements, supply agreements, and software licenses and cross-licenses.

In the blockchain and NFT space, Michael helps clients to develop business-aligned IP strategies, drafts digital marketplace agreements, terms of use, and other critical agreements, and also works on patents, trademarks, and license agreements.  He has been a leading voice educating web3 entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators on the importance of IP strategy and execution, often speaking in Twitter Spaces, LinkedIn Live, and at industry conferences and writing in publications such as the National Law Journal and Bloomberg.

In 2008–2009, he was seconded to Panasonic Corporation in Japan. As in-house patent counsel in the company’s licensing center, he acted as lead counsel representing the company in litigation, third-party patent assertions, license negotiations, portfolio cross-license agreements, and strategy.

Michael writes and speaks extensively. His articles have appeared in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine, LEXIS, Thomson/Reuters, Practical Law Company, IP Law360, Bloomberg/BNA, Managing IP Magazine, The National Law Review, and elsewhere. Michael is the sole author of Practical Law Company’s Practice Note on Patent Law and the Lexis Practice Advisor on Patent Licensing and is a co-author of Practical Law Company’s Practice Notes on Global Patent Litigation and Licensing and on Tracking and Privacy. He is the author of the chapter on Patent Licensing and Monetization in the Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law (Oxford Press, 2017).  He is also the author of the chapter entitled “Dealing in Intellectual Property: What You Need To Know To Get the Deal Done” in A Practical Guide to Successful Intellectual Property Valuation and Transactions (Wolters Kluwer Press, 2022).

Michael also has assumed various leadership positions in the IP bar. He was the founding Chairman of the New York IP Alliance (NYIPA) in 2021, heads the New York Chapter of the International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council (IIPCC), and serves as Co-Chair of the New York Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES).  He also has served on the Board of the U.S. IP Alliance.

A member of the Firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Michael has been the keynote speaker at conferences addressing topics such as diversity and mentorship. He is also a member of the Firm’s Wiggin Opportunity Initiative Committee, which oversees our initiative to provide pro bono legal services to qualifying minority owned businesses. Michael is a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness in the legal profession and the world at large and is the Founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer of Lawyering While Human and serves on the Communications Committee of The Institute for Well-Being in Law (IWIL) and as an Associate Member of the NYC Bar Association’s Lawyer Assistance Program Committee. Michael is also a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for AUTM and a member of AIPLA.

Michael is also an adjunct professor at his alma mater, NYU School of Law, where he teaches a course on IP Licensing and guest lectures at the NYU Business Transactions Clinic and NYU Entrepreneurship Center’s StartUp School. He is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School, where he teaches Technology and IP Licensing. Michael also frequently guest lectures at the NYU Business and Law Clinic, the NYU School of Medicine, New York Law School, the BLIP Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, Pace, Seton Hall Law School and several start-up incubators.

Mike has appeared as a commentator on major media networks, including CNN, CNN Headline News, NPR, CBS News Radio, ABC, and CBC Radio, and his writings have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Salon, The BBC, The Daily Dot, Money, Redbook and USA Today.

He has been interviewed on CNBC’s public television show Nightly Business Report regarding the Maps features of Snapchat and their privacy implications and again on CNBC’s Nightly Business Report regarding privacy terms of service. Mike was also interviewed and quoted for an article published on Good Morning America regarding childcare leave. He also was an invited attendee at CNN’s Town Hall on the #MeToo Movement. Most recently, Mike was featured on an episode of American Lawyer Media‘s Legal Speak podcast, during which he shared his insight on challenges and silver linings when working from home during the COVID-19 crisis.

Michael received his J.D. magna cum laude from New York University School of Law. He was a member of the NYU Law Review and the Order of the Coif, was Fish & Neave Fellow for the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy and served as President of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Society. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Judge Roderick R. McKelvie in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Michael received a B.S.E. in electrical engineering magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, with a minor in mathematics. He was a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and the Penn Parliamentary Debate Team.

Michael serves on the Board and as Director of Communications and Development of the nonprofit MyChild’sCancer, Board of Advisors of GenEqulity and serves on the Board of the SouthNextFestival. He was formerly Chairman of the Board of the nonprofit CityScience, which focuses on improving STEM education in cities. He is also the Director of Special Projects and Sr. Sports Editor for The Good Men Project and the founder of Lawyering While Human.