MIKE BETTINGER is a partner in Sidley’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices. Mike is a leading national trial lawyer for patent and intellectual property cases. He has tried 30 cases to verdict, securing notable jury trial wins in Federal courts throughout the U.S. for premier technology companies in the telecommunications, networking, software, semiconductor, health care, and solar industries. Mike is consistently recognized in Chambers USA, in which he is described as “an eminent trial lawyer and strong team leader, especially in complex intellectual property litigation” (2023).
“Sidley Austin’s West Coast IP Litigation team regularly makes the headlines, for all the right reasons. The endeavors of Michael Bettinger have everything to do with this. The eminent trial lawyer leads the group and puts in resonant performances on behalf of industry behemoths such as Microsoft and Amazon.”Representative trial wins
IAM 1000 The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, 2021
Mike delivered a jury verdict of non-infringement and invalidity for Microsoft in a patent case involving Xbox video technology filed by competitor Biscotti in the Eastern District of Texas. He secured a defense jury verdict for Baxter Healthcare in a patent case involving intravenous drug pump technology filed by competitor Carefusion in the Southern District of California. That 2012 win was selected by the Daily Journal as a “California Top Ten Defense Verdict.” Mike chalked up a jury defense verdict for Microsoft in a patent and trade secret case involving videoconferencing technology filed by competitor Placeware in the Northern District of California. He has also scored jury defense verdicts of non-infringement for Varian subsidiary Z-Axis in a medical device patent case filed by competitor Nomos in the District of Massachusetts, and for Novatel in a modem technology case filed by competitor DNT in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Mike’s jury trial wins reach beyond patent cases. He notched a landmark jury defense verdict for Abercrombie & Fitch in a trademark case filed by Levi Strauss & Co in the Northern District of California, involving Levi’s “famous” trademark for its back-pocket stitching design. The Daily Journal selected this first-of-its-kind trial win as a “California Top Ten Defense Verdict” in 2009.
Mike’s patent trial wins also extend to the International Trade Commission where, as lead counsel, he has secured Initial Decisions of non-infringement, each affirmed by the Commission, for:
- Amazon in a patent case filed by TPL involving semiconductor technology;
- Kodak in a patent case involving digital camera technology;
- STMicroelectronics in a patent case involving semiconductor technology;
- Nanya in a patent case involving semiconductor fabrication technology; and
- Silicon Motion in a patent case involving semiconductor technology.
Recognitions
Mike’s trial successes have resulted in a wide range of recognitions.
- Mike is consistently recognized in Chambers USA as a leader in California Intellectual Property: Patent Litigation, having garnered the award every year from 2013–2023.
- The Daily Journal has recognized Mike as one of “California’s Top 100 Lawyers” on three separate occasions, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, and as one of the “Top 50 IP Litigators” every year since 2007. In 2019, The Daily Journal named Mike among its “Top Trade Secrets Lawyers.”
- Mike has been named among The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2015 and among Best Lawyers in Northern California for Intellectual Property Litigation every year since 2004 as well as Patent and Trademark Law in 2022. In 2020, The Best Lawyers in America named Mike “Lawyer of The Year” for Trademark Law.
- He has also been recognized as one of the world’s leading patent professionals by IAM Patent 1000 annually since 2012, in which he is described as “high profile” and “gold-ranked” (2023). Most recently, Mike was named to the 2023 “IAM Global Leaders” list. The 2020 edition of IAM 1000 wrote, “[of] Michael Bettinger, one source comments: ‘I love working with him – he’s the consummate professional with a lot of common sense and an everyman touch.’
- Managing IP labeled Mike as a “California Patent Star” (2020–2023).