Mike Hendershot is an accomplished first-chair trial lawyer recognized repeatedly by the Daily Journal as one of California's Top IP Lawyers and IP Lawyer of the Year by The Recorder at the 2024 California Legal Awards. Mike has focused on IP litigation for 25 years and has been at the heart of some of the world's most significant IP matters throughout his career, including representing eBay from trial through its landmark Supreme Court victory in eBay v. MercExchange.
In-house counsel have described Mike's "likability with jurors" as "off the charts" and one prominent trial judge recently observed:
I have done this now for a long time. I've done a lot of these trials, and that was one of the most enjoyable examinations I've gotten to sit through. It was really a pleasure to be here today. I thought it was just terrific ... I wish we could still broadcast these trials. I think a lot of people could have learned how to be a lawyer if they'd listened this morning.
Mike leverages his broad background in biomedical engineering to advise industry leaders across a range of technologies, from biotech to semiconductors. Clients commend Mike's creativity, responsiveness, and clear guidance in driving results in cases with hundreds of millions to billions of dollars often at stake.
Mike frequently presents on IP topics, including presentations at the Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute and a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) strategy guide that was among IP Law360's most read features.
Mike has served as a pro bono advisor to The Jazz & Democracy Project for 15 years.
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)).
Additional Speaking Engagements
- January 2024
2023 Supreme Court IP Year in Review, Jones Day University - December 2023
Trends in Divided & Joint Infringement, Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute - January 2023
2022 Patent Law Year in Review, Jones Day University - January 2022
2021 Patent Law Year in Review, Jones Day University - 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
The Recorder/Law.com: "California IP Lawyer of the Year" (2024)
The Daily Journal: "Top Intellectual Property Lawyers" in California (2020, 2021, 2022)
Board of Governors (NorCal), Association of Business Trial Lawyers