Patrick Michael
Partner Litigation, Arbitration, and Employment
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Overview
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Experience
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Credentials
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Insights and events
Patrick Michael is a trial lawyer with extensive experience litigating intellectual property and technology cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. His practice focuses on a wide range of technologies, including integrated circuits, electronic design automation, software, semiconductor fabrication processes/tools, computer networking, medical devices and biotech and life science products.
As lead counsel, Patrick has a proven track record winning patent infringement, trade secret, copyright and licensing actions. Patrick has first chaired multiple high-stakes trials (jury and bench) as well as major international arbitrations. Most recently, Patrick led a cross-border team that, in 2023, obtained a full defense award (and an award of fees) for a biopharma client in “bet the company” international arbitration involving a patent license and trade secret dispute over drug discovery technologies and a damages claim of $500m.
Patrick's jury trial experience includes serving as lead trial counsel for a world-renowned laboratory in a trade secret dispute where he obtained a unanimous defense verdict for the client after a three-week jury trial. Patrick also led the team that won two trials, including a multi-million copyright infringement verdict, for one of the world's largest software companies, a victory that was named among the Daily Journal's "Top Verdicts of 2016."
Patrick is committed to his community and pro bono matters, representing clients in political asylum, guardianship, and school discipline matters, and has received the Pro Bono Advocate Award from Legal Services for Children.
Representative experience
Obtained plaintiff judgment for major software company after bench trial on defendant’s claims of equitable estoppel in competitor case involving EDA place-and-route technology.
Obtained plaintiff award for major EDA company after international arbitration on defendant’s claims of a license defense in competitor patent infringement action.
Obtained unanimous defense verdict for national laboratory after a three-week jury trial in a trade secret misappropriation action involving nanotechnology for use in inertial confinement fusion.
Obtained plaintiff award for medical device company in a trade secret misappropriation international arbitration involving devices for hand assisted laparoscopic surgery.
Representing major EDA company in competitor multi-patent infringement action involving semiconductor place-and-route technology.
Representing major software company in competitor patent infringement, copyright infringement and breach of contract action involving EDA and semiconductor IP technologies.
Representing major software company in multi-venue competitor actions for alleged trade secret misappropriation and various contractual claims relating to software security technologies.
Won summary judgment of no trade secret misappropriation on eve of trial for major software company in competitor case involving vulnerability databases and related technologies.
Represented international data storage company in defense of multiple claims arising from major data center outage related to virtual storage platform and fiber optic cable technologies
Won summary judgment and excluded plaintiff’s expert on eve of trial for semiconductor company in patent infringement action involving FPGA technologies, which ended multi-district litigation battle.
Obtained defense judgment for semiconductor company in patent infringement action involving integrated circuit testing technology, which was affirmed on appeal by the Federal Circuit.
Represented large semiconductor company and obtained multiple victories in patent infringement action, including at the Federal Circuit, resulting in a royalty free CNS.
Represented semiconductor company in defense of patent infringement case involving clock synthesizer technology and on Federal Circuit appeal affirming all claims as unpatentable.
Obtained judgment and injunction for large internet company in multi-venue patent infringement and trade secret actions involving proprietary database structures and technologies.
Represented semiconductor manufacturing equipment company in assertion of patent infringement action involving technologies for plasma etch reactors.
Obtained TRO, seizure order and injunction for hardware company in direct competitor action for trade secret misappropriation involving protocol analyzer technologies.
Represented semiconductor manufacturing equipment company in enforcing patents and in defense of action for inventorship involving optical endpoint detection systems.
Obtained defense award for biopharma client in an international arbitration on a patent license and trade secret dispute involving drug discovery technology in which plaintiff sought $500m in damages.
Obtained plaintiff verdict of $30.4 million for a major software company after three-week jury trial in a competitor copyright and patent infringement case involving EDA place-and-route technology.
Credentials
- J.D., Pepperdine University School of Law, cum laude, 1993
- B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1989
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
- Member, Business Law and Intellectual Property Sections, California Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Bar Association of San Francisco
- American Intellectual Property Law Association