Michael L. Kiklis
Founder, Kiklis Law Firm, PLLC
Mike@kiklislaw.com
Mike is a former Big Law partner who handles PTAB trials, Federal Circuit appeals, and patent litigation with small-firm, individualized attention, especially in computer-related technology. He was a partner at Akin Gump, Sonnenschein (now Dentons), Oblon, and Bass Berry & Sims, and earlier an associate at Finnegan. He has handled 100 PTAB trials, more than 20 Federal Circuit appeals, and large patent litigations, including matters valued at over $100 million. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in computer science and spent six years as a software developer at leading computer companies before law school. That mix of engineering training and more than thirty years of patent-law experience is rare among patent lawyers and informs his strategy on computer-related patent matters.
Selected Experience
• Lead counsel for Life Technologies Corp. in two covered business method proceedings and a Federal Circuit appeal. The PTAB found all challenged claims of an inventory-management patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. On appeal from the second proceeding, the Federal Circuit heard argument and affirmed within a week.
• Lead counsel in 24 related IPRs for a large oil-services company.
• Lead counsel for a large technology company as petitioner in five related IPRs.
• Counsel in approximately 100 IPR and CBM proceedings, many with parallel district-court, Federal Circuit, or Supreme Court proceedings.
• Represented a software company in enforcing its patent against more than thirty companies, including Microsoft and IBM, in two Eastern District of Texas cases, resulting in favorable settlements.
• Co-counsel on the first CBM filed at the PTAB.
• Represented a major computer company in its landmark antitrust case against Microsoft, resulting in a $1.95 billion settlement.
• Co-author of Supreme Court amicus briefs for a national organization of legal professionals in Bilski v. Kappos and for a trade association in Quanta Computer v. LG Electronics.
• Represented technology companies in cross-licensing negotiations with IBM and other high-technology companies, and as opinion counsel in a software patent case in which more than $1 billion was at stake.
These representative matters do not predict or guarantee a particular outcome.
Recognized Intellectual Property Scholarship
Mike is known for writing and speaking on cutting-edge, patent-law topics. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, 800-page treatise, The Supreme Court on Patent Law, and a co-author of the first edition of PLI’s post-grant treatise. His recent articles include Subject Matter Eligibility of Artificial Intelligence and the Problems with a Functionally Drafted Patent, AIPLA INNOVATE (Dec. 2025), and USPTO-Fed. Circ. Split Complicates Machine Learning Patents, IP360 (July 2026). He is regularly quoted on PTAB practice and patentable subject matter in IAM and IP360.
He has written and spoken extensively for decades on patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. For example, since 2014, he has presented a § 101 webinar three to four times a year that is both very popular and highly rated. Audiences call his webinars “fantastic practical advice” with “comprehensive content” and his written materials “fantastic.” He also provides consistent, patentable-subject-matter updates in the news/insights section. As part of his scholarship, he has reviewed every Supreme Court patent decision (over 670) and every patentable-subject-matter decision of the Federal Circuit and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.
Selected Speaking Engagements
• IPO Annual Meeting — PTAB litigation
• AIPLA Annual Meeting — patentable subject matter
• University of Texas Advanced Patent Law Institute — PTAB trials
• Judge Pauline Newman Inn of Court — the Supreme Court’s patent law jurisprudence
• All Ohio Annual Institute on Intellectual Property — recurring speaker on patentable subject matter and PTAB litigation
Accolades
• IAM Patent 1000: recognized in the Washington, D.C. metro area for patent litigation (2014–2026)
• Managing Intellectual Property: IP Stars (2013–2026)
• Boston University Metropolitan College: Computer Science Distinguished Alumni Award
• Patent and Trademark Office Society: Rossman Award, for the article judged to make the greatest contribution to the field that year
Education
• Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1993
• Boston University, M.S., Computer Science, 1988
• University of Massachusetts Lowell, B.S., Computer Science, 1985
Admissions
• District of Columbia
• Virginia
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia