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)
Mike assists clients across a broad spectrum of intellectual property needs such as procuring, analyzing, and enforcing utility and design patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. He has served as lead counsel in dozens of intellectual property cases and has successfully taken cases through summary judgment, trial, and appeal. A registered patent attorney, Mike has also successfully challenged and defended patents before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board and trademarks before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board.
On the transactional side, Mike manages global intellectual property portfolios for several clients and has led successful licensing campaigns to monetize portfolios he has helped them create. He also advises clients on the intellectual property of others in the context of acquisition due diligence, license negotiations, and non-infringement / invalidity analyses. Mike has obtained patent rights for clients throughout the mechanical, electrical, and computer science disciplines and 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 began his professional career as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before spending several years on an engineering management track at Ford Motor Company. In 2005, he transitioned from developing inventions as an engineer to protecting them as an intellectual property attorney. Today, Mike prides himself on his ability to understand the design and engineering challenges his customers face and to use that understanding to help them navigate the competitive landscape of products and services they offer.
At the firm, Mike is the Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. Dedicated to giving back, he sits on a number of charitable boards and founded and operates the Mowen Scholars program, which raises money to help send kids to college on behalf of a fallen classmate. Mike also practices education law pro bono 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.
IP Litigation
- 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.
- Defeated injunction bid, keeping client’s innovative beamforming technology available to customers while successfully resolving multi-jurisdictional patent and trade secret dispute between leading audio conference equipment providers.
- Obtained preliminary and permanent injunctions halting the flow of patent infringing counterfeit speakers into the United States, seized the infringer’s assets, and had them awarded to our client.
- Obtained summary judgment and permanent injunction for national property rental client forcing its competitor to change its name and stop infringing the client’s trademark.
- Convinced court to set aside a significant patent infringement judgment levied against a wireless telecom client while represented by other counsel by raising procedural flaws and new evidence
- Obtained preliminary injunction halting the sale of paintballs that infringed a client’s trademark configuration registration and trade dress leading to a favorable settlement against a leading competitor.
- Successfully established and asserted common law rights to trade dress and marks in the welding industry resulting in the cancellation of overlapping registrations obtained by a competitor.
- Favorably resolved patent claims asserted against an aircraft parts client based on claim construction victories and successful discovery efforts.
IP Transactional
- Manage and enforce a large patent and trademark portfolio covering certain pesticide 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, enabling them to place nearly 95% of their competition under licenses covering the sale of more than 100 million writing instruments annually. Also drafted and obtained the underlying patents and defended them through multiple PTAB challenges.
- Advise a client in navigating the state and federal patchwork of laws relating to the sale of cannabis products, and developing protection schemes for their intellectual property in that space.
- Developed an inventorship program for a global technology company in the employment space that has drastically increased their invention disclosures, patent applications and issued patents.
- Negotiated trademark agreements to allow for the national expansion of a hospice care provider with a common name used by competitors in other states.
- Advised publicly-traded client through a corporate name change and rebranding effort of all its software offerings.
- Negotiated territorial expansion guidelines for two multi-state banking groups with rights to similar names and marketing material that has allowed for coexistence.
- 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 as well as privacy and confidentiality.
- The Best Lawyers in America, recommended in “Patent Law” since 2024
- Illinois Super Lawyers, named “Super Lawyer” for Intellectual Property, 2023
- Crain's Chicago Business, "Notable Veteran Executives," 2021
- The Legal 500 United States, recommended in “Trademarks: Litigation,” 2020
- Illinois Super Lawyers, named “Rising Star” for 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. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
- 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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