Michael Switzer

During Michael’s more than 25 years in the intellectual property field, he has been fortunate to work at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office as a patent examiner, at premier law firms as a partner and part of the management team, and in-house at a pre-eminent global medical device company and at Hitachi, Ltd. resident in Tokyo. 

Drawing upon those experiences, Michael supports his clients’ business objectives through intellectual property counseling, licensing, and litigation.

Michael advises clients on pathways to market for their research and development efforts, and has led teams conducting intellectual property due diligence evaluations on numerous transactions in deals with values up to $500 million.  He also regularly prepares and negotiates patent assignments and licenses, as well as agreements for joint development, confidentiality, consulting, supply, and technology transfer.

When intellectual property litigation is necessary, Michael and the Actuate team are ready to vigorously prosecute or defend on behalf of their clients.  Throughout Michael’s career, he has appeared before numerous federal district courts and the International Trade Commission, litigating patent, trademark, trade secret, trade dress and non-compete disputes.

In his spare time, Michael can usually be spotted at an ice rink or baseball diamond cheering on his kids (usually too loud for their taste), obsessing about New England-based sport teams, or looking for the latest Hazy IPA.