Michael M. Markman

Michael Markman is a partner in the San Francisco office.  He practices technology litigation with a focus on patent, copyright and trade secret matters for clients in the software and telecommunications industries.  He also represents technology clients in complex commercial litigation and provides strategic intellectual property counseling.

Representative Matters

• Counseling The New York Times Company regarding reexamination strategy relating to patents held by Helferich Patent Licensing LLC.
• Representing Samsung LED Co., Ltd. and Samsung LED America in an ITC investigation of OSRAM relating to LED technology.
• Counseled Microsoft in connection with its acquisition of Skype.
• Defending Palm in a District of Delaware patent infringement action involving patents alleged to cover wireless application systems and optical reader devices, and counterclaims relating to power management for handheld devices.  The Court granted summary judgment of non-infringement in Palm’s favor on all five of the plaintiff’s patents, and the plaintiff’s appeal is pending before the Federal Circuit.
• Representing Palm in the Eastern District of Texas involving two patents relating to portable touch screen data collection devices.  Following claim construction the plaintiff stipulated to judgment of non-infringement, and the plaintiff’s appeal is pending before the Federal Circuit.
• Representing Palm in litigation in the District of Delaware involving patents relating to user interfaces for digital cameras.
• Defending Palm in litigation in which the patentee asserts infringement based on international text-messaging.  The Court granted summary judgment of non-infringement in the defendants’ favor on all asserted claims.

Honors and Rankings

• Euromoney's Benchmark Litigation, Future Star - CA (2010)
• Northern California Rising Stars, Intellectual Property Litigation (2009-2011)
• Richard E. Guggenhime Pro Bono Award (2003)

Pro Bono

• Representing the City and County of San Francisco, Central City SRO Collaborative, San Francisco Tenants Union, and Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco in litigation in the Northern District of California and before the Postal Regulatory Commission against the U.S. Postal Service relating to a policy declining to deliver mail to individual locked mailboxes in many Single Room Occupancy buildings in San Francisco.
• Filed amicus brief on behalf of the Asian American Institude and thirty-six other public interest organizations in support of a motion for preliminary injunction in litigation seeking to bar enforcement of Arizona’s SB 1070, which would have required Arizona law enforcement officers to make an on-the-spot assessment, during every stop, detention, or arrest under any other law or ordinance, of the residency status of the suspect.
• Represented plaintiffs in a landmark case concerning alleged mass electronic surveillance of internet and telephone communications by the NSA.  Over the objections of the Department of Justice, plaintiffs successfully persuaded the district court that the case should not be dismissed on the basis of the State Secret privilege.  Represented the plaintiffs on the government’s appeal of the district court’s order.
• Represented alleged victims of various mortgage foreclosure specialists in multiple cases.
• Represented the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee and its elected chairman in its appeal of a First Amendment challenge to the enforcement of a Department of Veterans Affairs regulation being used to selectively bar voter registration by political parties at long term care facilities for veterans.

Memberships and Affiliations

• Spring 2005-Spring 2011 — Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall).  Taught Pretrial Civil Litigation.
• State Bar of California
• San Mateo Legal Aid Society Board of Directors (2005-2007)
• California Democratic Party, Executive Board (2003-2005)
• San Francisco Bay Area Intellectual Property Inn of Court (2001-present)

Publications and Speeches

• "Getting Ahead in the Changing Patent Litigation Marketplace: Thinking About a New Toolkit for Pre‐Suit Coordination of Patent Joint Defense Efforts," Bloomberg Law Reports (7/7/2011), Author
• "Joint Defense Strategies and Agreements," Advanced Patent Law Institute (2008)
• "Patent Basics for the Non-Specialist 2008," Practicing Law Institute (2008)