Entering the legal field in the heyday of Silicon Valley’s tech boom, Michael trained at several of the Valley’s preeminent patent boutique firms, filing and prosecuting hundreds of patent applications and counseling companies from garage startups to the Fortune 100. Some of his more memorable work was with individual inventors who went on to license the patents he wrote for them or sell for six and seven-figure sums.
Seizing an opportunity in 2005, Michael joined Qualcomm’s in-house legal department and spent more than ten years gaining a level of competency, skills and experiences that few attorneys ever achieve. Upon joining the company, Michael was one of two attorneys assigned to a newly acquired start-up. Under the guidance of Qualcomm’s Chief Patent Counsel, Michael was tasked with building an IP program from scratch, without regard to how Qualcomm’s main patent department operated. Patent boards, invention mining, foreign filing strategies, employee IP education programs, budget, trademarks, copyright, a trade secret program, pre-litigation, licensing (inbound and outbound) acquisitions – an entire IP department was built as a microcosm within the larger company. At its peak, this department had five attorneys and a $12M annual budget. From the dozen patents held by the start-up at the time of acquisition, Michael was instrumental in growing the portfolio to over 600 issued US patents, with thousands worldwide. In time, several of the processes Michael established were exported to the entire company – foreign filing strategies, issued patent review processes, patent review board decision making, education practices, ITAR monitoring/control, and a trade secret program – and the two departments became fully integrated.
During his time at Qualcomm, Michael also served as a speaker on panels for the IP Counsel Café (leadership organization) along with other IP professionals. Also, he had the privilege of serving on the board of advisors to a start-up company for a number of years, providing high-level IP guidance and counseling as well as business advice in the formation of the company’s general strategy. He worked closely with the Board of Directors and CEO on IP portfolio management and valuation, licensing, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, and general legal matters.
In his final years at Qualcomm, Michael shaped and led technology protection efforts for a group of 150 engineers located in five countries, with patent filings in over 30 countries.
With the founding of Synergy Patent Group, Michael brings a deep and broad set of experiences to the world of small-to-medium (SMB) sized businesses. This business niche will benefit the most from the talents of attorneys who have spent significant time on both sides of the legal fence (working for law firms, as outside counsel, as well as at a company as in-house counsel). Contact Synergy Patent Group to learn how we can best partner with you.
When Michael isn't working you can find him volunteering within his immediate community as a fire fighter and on search-and-rescue for the county.