Michael B. Hurd

Michael joined Hovey Williams in 2004. He currently specializes in intellectual property litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, and client counseling. Michael has held a wide range of positions in IP law, including in-house patent counsel for a pharmaceutical company, and founding member of a patent department within a large, general practice firm.

He has handled many different patent, trademark, copyright, trade dress, domain name, and false advertising litigation matters in courts across the country during his career. He has been recognized by his peers for outstanding legal work by receiving Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory's highest "AV" rating for lawyers.

Representative Litigation Matters

• Successfully defended manufacturer of industrial gas turbines in trial of patent infringement claims brought by industry leader.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of national household products company that its food steamers did not infringe patent-in-suit.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of medical device reprocessing company that its activities did not constitute patent and trademark infringement.
• Obtained summary judgment for automotive parts supplier that statements made by its sales personnel were not false advertising.
• Successfully defended against preliminary injunction sought against national pet food company involving false advertising claim.
• Obtained order transferring ownership of Internet domain name in Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy proceeding.
• Argued appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and obtained reversal of preliminary injunction entered in patent case.
• Defended national retailer against trade dress infringement claims involving multi-purpose tools.
  Obtained dismissal of patent infringement lawsuit involving chemical distillation trays as being preempted by mandatory arbitration agreement.
• Obtained trademark counterfeiting seizure order on behalf of industrial valve manufacturer.
• Obtained award of maximum statutory damages in trial of copyright infringement case involving cemetery plot.
• Negotiated settlements of patent litigation matters involving a wide variety of technologies, such as oil-field tooling, powered rotary knives, polymeric sound-dampening materials, trailer wiring, molecular sieves, insecticidal paints, medical devices, recreational vehicle air conditioners, and rumble-strip machinery.