Michael Q. Lee

Michael Q. Lee is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group where he focuses his practice on working with companies to strategically protect and leverage their IP assets. He has extensive experience protecting inventions in a diverse range of technologies, including RF and wireless communications; telecommunications; media servers; consumer products; computer processor and memory architectures; and software, cloud computing, Internet, database and business methods. In one example, for a client in the RF/wireless space, Mike built a worldwide patent portfolio that includes over 350 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications.

Mike counsels clients on a wide range of technology-related transactions, including joint development agreements, strategic alliances, license agreements, asset purchase agreements, contractor and services agreements, shrink wrap license agreements and manufacture/supply agreements. He is a Certified Licensing Professional^TM.

Mike is counsel in over 20 inter partes review (IPR) and covered business method (CBM) review proceedings. He has been the lead attorney in over 30 inter partes reexaminations and has worked on numerous district court litigations.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Mike was employed as an engineer in the computer and communications industries. He developed and integrated hardware and software to test and verify satellite communication systems.

Mike has been recognized by the IAM Strategy 250 and 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists, and has consistently been ranked in the IAM Patent 1000 for the categories of patent prosecution and transactions. Mike has also been recognized as an “IP Star” by Managing IP since 2013. He was formerly President of the Certified Licensing Professionals Inc. and a Vice President of the Licensing Executives Society (USA/Canada). He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu.

Mike is a contributing author of Patent Office Litigation, Second Edition, published in 2017 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw. The book provides a fresh and comprehensive exploration of patent office litigation proceedings, including how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, while delivering practical analysis and advice.

Mike earned his JD, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and has a M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. He received his B.S., also in electrical engineering, from the University of Virginia (high honors).

Technical Publications

• “The 2005 Patent Landscape for Electronics Companies,”Practising Law Institute Coursebook, March 2005, (co-author).
• “Business method patents for financial products and services,” IP Value 2005, January 2005, (co-author).
• “Patenting Bioinformatics Inventions – Practical Considerations,” Proceedings of the AIPLA 23rd Mid-Winter Institute, January 2000 (co-author).
• “When Worlds Collide: Patents Grow at the Interface of Software and Biotechnology,” Legal Times Special Report on Intellectual Property, April 1997 (co-author).
• “Preparing and Prosecuting Electronic and Computer Related Patent Applications: Avoiding and Overcoming Statutory Subject Matter Rejections,” IDEA, 1993 (co-author).