Michael T. Zoppo is a Principal in Fish & Richardson’s New York office. A registered patent lawyer, his practice focuses on the trial and appeal of patent cases, as well as related counseling in the areas of financial services, electrical/computer engineering, materials science, automotive technologies, and semiconductors. In addition to patent cases, he litigates trade secret, Lanham Act, breach of contract, defamation, and fraud cases. Before Michael focused his practice on litigation and counseling, he spent several years prosecuting patent applications in technical disciplines such as power systems, chemistry, aircraft propulsion, and semiconductors.
Michael has served as lead counsel in cases with millions of dollars at stake. For example, he represented an accused infringer facing over a billion dollars in alleged damages. In that case, Michael led pre-trial proceedings that forced the patentee to consent to adverse judgment moments before opening statements. The favorable judgment was affirmed by the Federal Circuit, and the District Court awarded over six million dollars in attorneys’ fees to Michael’s client. This win was profiled by the National Law Journal in its selection of Fish & Richardson to its 2015 Intellectual Property Hot List. In a case where his client faced both patent and non-patent claims leading to a damages model well into the nine figures, Michael obtained complete summary judgment of non-infringement leading to an extremely favorable settlement of all claims against his client. Michael has extensive courtroom experience, including trial work, arguing all manner of pre-trial motions, and leading numerous Markman hearings. As lead trial counsel, Michael has handled direct and cross-examinations, as well as the opening statement and closing argument.
In addition to representing such entities in litigation, Michael has counseled national exchanges, insurance companies, and banks concerning their intellectual property portfolios. He has been brought in to oversee the prosecution of key patent applications as well as to guide portfolio development and monetization.
Before entering the legal field, Michael founded a startup that offered web-based auction services.
“eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C.: New Standard for Permanent Injunctions in Patent Cases,” with C. Sandhu, Bright Ideas, 15, 2 (Fall 2006).
Awards
Recognized in “The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners” by IAM Patent 1000 (2017, 2018).
Selected as a 2017 “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal.
Selected by his peers as a Super Lawyers New York Rising Star from 2013-2018 for IP litigation, a recognition that less than three percent of the attorneys in New York receive.
Experience
USAA v. Mitek Systems Inc. (W.D. Tex.): In a landmark case focused on remote deposit capture technology, Michael served as lead patent counsel for USAA, defending against Mitek’s allegations of patent infringement. Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement for all asserted patents. Also represented USAA on claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, defamation, and fraud.
Asghari-Kamrani v. USAA (E.D. Va.): Serving as lead counsel for USAA, defending against allegations of infringing a patent relating to two-factor authentication. Obtained order invalidating the patent-in-suit under Alice.
Smart Authentication IP v. USAA (E.D. Tex.): Serving as lead counsel for USAA, defending against allegations of infringing a patent relating to two-factor authentication.
St. Isidore v. USAA (E.D. Tex.): Served as lead patent counsel for USAA, defending against allegations of infringing patents relating to two-factor authentication.
Annuitek LLC v. USAA Life Insurance Company (E.D. Tex.): As lead counsel, represented USAA in a patent litigation concerning the pricing of annuity contracts.
Unified Messaging Solutions, LLC v. USAA (N.D. Ill. and W.D. Tex.): Representing USAA in a patent litigation concerning cross-platform messaging. Final judgment entered in USAA’s favor, and obtained attorneys’ fees.
Novozymes A/S and Novozymes North America, Inc. v. C T E Global, Inc., (N.D. Ill.): Represented plaintiff-patentee Novozymes in litigation against U.S. importer of glucoamylase industrial enzymes (used in the manufacture of fuel ethanol) and obtained permanent injunction.
Chicago Board Options Exchange v. International Securities Exchange (N.D. Ill.): As co-lead counsel, represented the Chicago Board against ISE in a litigation concerning a patent on a fully computerized exchange. ISE consented to judgment in CBOE’s favor right before opening statements were to begin. Judgment of non-infringement was affirmed by the Federal Circuit, and the district court awarded over six million dollars in attorneys’ fees to CBOE.
Realtime Data v. Chicago Board Options Exchange (S.D.N.Y.): As lead counsel, represented the Chicago Board against Realtime Data in a litigation concerning patents on data compression, particularly regarding financial data.
C2 Options Exchange v. International Securities Exchange (N.D. Ill.): Represented the C2 Exchange in a litigation concerning a patent on a fully computerized exchange.
Layne Christensen v. The Purolite Company (D. Kan.): Represented water purification company in litigation involving allegations of patent infringement and breach of contract.
Certain Disc Drives, Components Thereof, and Products Containing Same (USITC 337-TA-516): Represented hard disk drive manufacturer in investigation involving servo technology, magnetic media, and mechanical structures contained in micro-disc drives.
Seagate Technology LLC v. Cornice, Inc. – (D. Del.): Represented hard disk drive manufacturer in investigation involving servo technology, magnetic media, and mechanical structures contained in micro-disc drives
Represented a semiconductor manufacturer in multiple litigations concerning doping of wide band gap semiconductors, commonly used in light emitting diodes and laser diodes.
Represented a DRAM manufacturer in litigation concerning patents directed to increasing bandwidth.
Michael Zoppo is recognized for “firing on all cylinders advocating for rights holders in the financial sector” and “really understand[ing] how sophisticated and innovative financial services companies do business.”
— 2018 IAM Patent 1000
Fish’s “New York office is a vital resource pool in terms of staffing trial teams, but in Michael Zoppo it also has someone to fill a lead role.”
— 2017 IAM Patent 1000
