Mike Hendershot is a trial lawyer who has focused on patent and trade secret litigation for two decades. He has been recognized as one of California's "Top Intellectual Property Lawyers" and has delivered results across the country, including jury wins in the Eastern District of Texas and Delaware. Throughout his career, Mike has advised industry leaders on their most challenging IP matters, such as representing eBay from trial through its landmark Supreme Court victory in eBay v. MercExchange.
Leveraging a broad-based technical background in biomedical engineering, Mike has a track record of marshaling complex technologies for judges and jurors in a way that is not only clear and approachable but also ties into winning case themes. Judges, clients, and opposing counsel have commended this skill, and in-house counsel have described Mike's likability with jurors as "off the charts."
Clients commend Mike's strategic creativity, responsiveness, and clear guidance in driving results. He has handled cases for industry leaders, often with hundreds of millions to billions at stake, involving a range of technologies, including voice recognition, cell therapy, AI, mobile/wireless, data storage, semiconductors, video compression, e-commerce/fintech, chemical manufacturing, and photonics.
Mike frequently speaks and publishes on IP topics. He has given many presentations at the Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute and coauthored a strategy guide that was one of IPLaw360's 10 most read guest features of 2019.
Mike served on the board of governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers (NorCal) and is a member of the PTAB Bar Association. He has served as a pro bono advisor to The Jazz & Democracy Project for more than a decade.
Experience
The following represents experience acquired prior to joining Jones Day.
Lead counsel in successfully defending three leading mobile phone manufacturers against multiple speech recognition patents in the District of Delaware, winning judgment of invalidity and disposing of the actions without discovery.
Lead counsel in successfully defending three leading mobile phone manufacturers against patent claims related to mobile search in the Southern District of California and in related Patent Office proceedings, winning judgment of invalidity of all claims on the pleadings and disposing of the actions without discovery.
Lead counsel in challenges to nearly 60 patents and more than 1,000 claims on behalf of a financial services company in the District of Delaware.
Represented an international conglomerate throughout a multibillion dollar trade secret litigation involving civil claims with more than 100 trade secrets and parallel federal criminal charges. All matters were globally resolved following an eight-week jury trial in the Eastern District of Virginia and successful appeal.
Successfully defended IBM against patent and trade secret lawsuits in the Northern District of California, including obtaining accelerated discovery of a plaintiff that resulted in an early victory on summary judgment.
Represented a leading fitness wearable manufacturer in a series of inter partes reviews resulting in the invalidation of a competitor's patents.
Lead counsel for a data storage company in defending against multiple data compression patents in the District of Delaware.
Represented a leading mobile electronics company in defending against a speech recognition patent in the Northern District of California.
Represented a leading network security company in defending a six-patent case in the Northern District of Texas.
Lead counsel for a network infrastructure company. Developed an inequitable conduct defense pre-suit and the plaintiff walked away from his client and instead proceeded to sue a number of its competitors.
Lead counsel for a dental implant company. Developed novel arguments for noninfringement and sanctions and negotiated a walk-away settlement.
Won a sweeping jury verdict in the Eastern District of Texas for Sun Microsystems on all claims, including patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, interference with contract, and unfair competition.
Won a jury verdict of infringement for McKesson Corp. in the District of Delaware on a patent involving medical claims auditing software.
Defended eBay in patent litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Eastern District of Virginia, resulting in the Supreme Court's landmark decision in eBay's favor that injunctions should not be presumed in patent cases (eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, 126 S. Ct. 1837 (2006)).
Speaking Engagements
- December 2019
"International Litigation Strategy & Coordination" -- Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute - January 2019
"2018 Patent Law Year in Review" -- Jones Day University - December 2016
"Post-Halo: Defending Against Allegations of Willful Infringement" -- Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute - December 2015
"Drafting and Attacking Pleadings Under the New Standards" -- Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute
- University of Virginia (J.D. 2000; Order of the Coif); University of Southern California (B.S. cum laude 1997)
- California; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Federal and Ninth Circuits; and U.S. District Courts for: the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California; Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas; and District of Nebraska
- Daily Journal: "Top Intellectual Property Lawyers" in California (2020)