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Michael Martensen

Founder & Shareholder

Mike is the founder of Martensen IP. He has practiced patent law since 1997, when, as a patent agent and while attending Duke University School of Law, he assisted a growing LED company in North Carolina defend itself against a patent lawsuit. Today, Mike’s practice covers a wide variety of intellectual property matters.

His broad experience includes prosecuting patents in mechanical engineering, computer science, software, fluid dynamics and medical devices. In addition to procuring intellectual property rights for clients, Mike also possesses several years of experience as an IP/patent litigator, having participated in all aspects of patent, trademark and trade secret litigation.

His foundation in intellectual property was laid working alongside leading IP attorneys at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Perkins Coie in Silicon Valley and Hogan Lovells in Colorado.

A United States Air Force Academy graduate and former fighter pilot, Mike has a BS in engineering science from the academy, an MS in aerospace engineering from Mississippi State University, an MBA from the University of West Florida and a law degree from Duke University.

Bar Admissions

  • Colorado, 2005
  • California, 2000
  • Texas, 2011
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1999
  • U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 2002
  • U.S. District Court Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of California

Certified Legal Specialties

  • Patents
  • USPTO Bar

Issued Patents

Representative Cases

  • SanDisk v. Lexar Media (N.D. Cal.). Assisted with the representation of SanDisk, a manufacturer of computer flash memory, in a patent infringement suit against Lexar Media. SanDisk alleged that Lexar’s flash-memory storage cards infringed SanDisk’s patent.
  • Crocs, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, et al. (ITC, Fed. Cir.) Assisted in a patent infringement suit in which we represented Crocs in a suit brought against several competitors before the International Trade Commission (ITC). The complaint contended that the competitors’ products infringed two of Crocs’ patents, one utility patent and one design patent. Ultimately, the ITC ruled that some of the competitors had infringed the utility patent, but that the utility patent was invalid for obviousness. The ITC further ruled the design patent valid but not infringed, and determined that Crocs had not satisfied the technical prong of the industry requirement under Section 337 for the design patent. In Crocs’ subsequent appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, our attorneys secured a reversal of the ITC’s finding that the Crocs patents were obvious. After a comparison of the shoes in question, the court found infringement, and also reversed the ITC’s finding of no domestic industry on the design patent.
  • Intel v. Broadcom (D. Del.). Assisted the firm is representing Broadcom, a major semiconductor manufacturer, in a patent infringement action brought by Intel. The five patents at issue involved video compression, networking technology, and semiconductor packaging. Intel sought monetary damages and an injunction sufficient to put Broadcom out of business.
  • Novadigm v. Marimba (N.D. Cal.) Assisted the patent owner in a case involving a patent for differential-software distribution over a network, U.S. Patent No. 5,581,764 resulting in defeating the defendant’s inequitable-conduct defense in a bench trial.
  • Sun Microsystems v. Microsoft (N.D. Cal.) Assisted in multiple patent matters in protracted litigation between Sun Microsystems v. Microsoft ultimately resulting in a $2B settlement.

Representative Publications

Employment
HOGAN LOVELLS LLP, Colorado Springs, CO
Attorney, 2005 – 2010
Patent Preparation and Prosecution -Litigation Counseling – Freedom to Operate analysis in electronic, software and mechanical arts; representative clients Sun Microsystems; ST Microelectronics; Lockheed Martin.

Detons (formerly Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP), San Francisco, CA
Attorney, 2003 – 2005
Intellectual Property and Technology Litigation Associate / Patent Attorney – Patent litigation and analysis for Sun Microsystems v. Microsoft – Patent Prosecution in the fields of software and encryption.

Perkins Coie, LLP, Menlo Park, CA
Attorney, 2002 – 2003
Draft and prosecute U.S., P.C.T. and national stage patent applications. Technical Areas of Micro-fluidics,
computer science, Internet technology including Internet security and encryption, telecommunications and wireless systems, mechanical arts, medical devices including cardiac catheters, stents, and stereotaxic surgical method.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, LLP, Palo Alto, CA
Attorney, 2000 – 2002
Litigation associate / Patent Attorney – Assisted multiple patent litigation cases – preparation and prosecution of patents before the USPTO.

United States Air Force, Various Locations
Officer, Active Duty: 1983 – 1997, Reserve duty: 1997 – 2006
USAF – Pilot in Command, Operations Officer and Mission Commander as an F-15 Fighter Pilot. 300+ combat hours. Program Manager of USAF Operational Test and Evaluation Oversaw as many as 15 simultaneous projects covering advanced weapons development and testing. Lt. Col. Ret.

Education

  • J.D. Intellectual Property, cum laude Duke University School of Law - Graduate School
    Durham , NC 2000
  • M.B.A. Technical Management, Strategic Development / Start-ups and Emerging Growth University of West Florida - Graduate School
    Pensacola , FL 1997
  • Master of Military Operational Art and Science United States Air Command and Staff College - Graduate School
    Montgomery , AL 1995
  • Master of Science: Aerospace Engineering, Computational Fluid Dynamics Advanced Compressible Aerodynamics Thesis: Design of a Pa Mississippi State University - Graduate School
    Starkville , MS 1990
  • Fighter Pilot Training, Distinguished Graduate, Selected for and Completed F-15 Upgrade Training United States Air Force Academy - Undergraduate School
    Lubbock , TX 1984
  • B.S. Double major in Engineering Mechanics and Engineering Science, Dean’s List United States Air Force Academy - Undergraduate School
    Colorado Springs , CO 1983
  • Patent Preparation and Prosecution
  • Trademarks
  • Trade Secrets
  • IP Enforcement Counseling
  • IP Issues With Respect to Government Contracts
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association, Member
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office Bar, Member
  • National Contract Management Association, Member
  • American Bar Association, Member
  • California Bar Association, Member
  • Colorado Bar Association, Member
  • Texas Bar Association, Member
  • Small Business Association, Member
Our Values What Our Work Means
  • We Maintain A Record of Success in Achieving Patent Coverage
    Every attorney has 20+ years of experience and has drafted and prosecuted hundreds of successful patent applications.
  • We Function At The Intersection Of Business, Law And Technology

    Our experience and knowledge converge at the intersection of intellectual property and government contracting. We are uniquely positioned not just as a provider of technical counsel, but also as part of business advisory teams.

  • We Provide Superior Legal Guidance and Value
    Experience in numerous business and engineering disciplines creates a knowledge base that makes it possible for our attorneys to assist clients in situations where IP legal advice only makes sense if placed within the context of a client’s complete business strategy.
  • We Develop Strategies to Enhance Competitive Advantage
    We come up with great IP strategies to enhance our client’s competitive advantage but recognize that the technology will change, the environment will change, the competition will change and so will our plan; we’re ready.
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