Michael McKeon

Michael J. McKeon is a nationally recognized intellectual property and trial attorney. For more than 30 years, Michael has represented the world's most well-known companies in their most complex and significant disputes, often with billions of dollars at stake.

He has successfully tried dozens of cases, leading trial teams in IP matters in U.S. district courts throughout the country and at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). He also regularly appears on behalf of clients at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Michael has a long record of success representing clients in U.S. district courts through jury trial wins, while also working to develop paths to victory before trial. He has also successfully represented clients in over 50 ITC cases both as complainants (securing ITC exclusion orders against clients' competitors) and respondents (clearing clients of alleged violation). His results for his clients are often victory through complex, multi-forum strategies, including parallel actions in district court and state courts as well as the ITC. Some examples include:

* Led a trial team defending one of the world’s largest and well-known electronics companies in EDTX against the largest patent damages demand ever to be asserted in that district: $2 billion. After a week-long trial, the jury returned a verdict of no infringement.

* Led a trial team in defense of a large consumer electronics company in SDCal against infringement claims relating to standard essential patents. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict of no infringement clearing the company’s multibillion dollar consumer electronics business. Also obtained summary judgment of no infringement in a follow-on case and successfully defended both victories at the Federal Circuit.

* Led a trial team representing a leading electronics company in Delaware as plaintiff for breach of license agreement. After a week-long trial, the jury returned a verdict finding breach and awarding the full damages demand.

* Defended a large consumer electronics company in DMass against assertions of infringement against the company’s multibillion dollar mobile products business. After a successful Markman hearing, obtained judgment of no infringement. Defended the judgment on appeal and obtained a ruling of invalidity of all claims in cross-appeal.

* Led a trial team defending a leading U.S. automotive company in a case at the ITC that sought exclusion and cessation of U.S. operations relating to the company’s new, cutting edge EVs. The ALJ found no infringement which was upheld by the Commission.

* Led a team representing at the ITC a large semiconductor manufacturing company as complainant against a competitor. After trial and review, obtained an order excluding competitor’s flash memory and its broad set of downstream consumer electronics products from entry into the United States. The case then favorably settled.

In addition to his decades of trial work, Michael is a highly regarded strategist with a long track record of developing areas of law on behalf of his clients. Some notable examples include his work in the ITC and on appeal in pushing to change the well-entrenched ITC practice of issuing remedies against products of non-respondents, which resulted in the Federal Circuit's Kyocera decision. He has also worked across numerous ITC cases obtaining commission clarity on the appropriate scope of the domestic industry requirement in ITC proceedings.

Michael is Chambers ranked and has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work, including Lawyer of the Year for Patent Litigation (Best Lawyers), Visionary (National Law Journal), and Trailblazer (National Law Journal), with clients describing him as “an excellent trial lawyer” and “brilliant in court" with “high energy and tenacious style,” but also “a clear-eyed view on how to structure legal advice to address specific business needs."

After graduation from engineering school in 1990, Michael started his IP career as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and continued to work full time while attending law school at the George Washington University Law School, where he graduated in the top 1% of his class. He was a judicial clerk to the Honorable William C. Bryson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Michael has been with Fish & Richardson since completing his clerkship, and he has been instrumental in the firm's growth from 120 lawyers in a few offices to over 375 in 15 offices nationwide. He is the longest-serving member of the firm’s management committee.

Michael created and developed the first law school class in the country dedicated to Section 337 cases before the ITC, and he taught this course as an adjunct professor for 13 years at the George Washington University Law School. He currently serves as chair of the IP advisory board at the George Washington University Law School. In 2014, Michael was inducted into the University of Connecticut’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers, and he currently serves as a member of the advisory board for UCONN's school of engineering.