People

Michael Hawes Photo
Michael Hawes
Partner | Practice Group Chair - Federal Circuit Appellate (Firmwide)

Overview

Companies facing an IP dispute know it's good to win in district court, and it's better to win on appeal. Having handled more than 60 appeals and mandamus proceedings, Michael knows that the best way to save critical time and money and exert leverage is to begin with the end game in mind. As chair of Baker Botts' Federal Circuit Appellate Practice Group, Michael assists clients in forming strategies to address current IP disputes and protect them from future disputes. He handles negotiations and cases dealing with patent and copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation and violation of employment agreement IP provisions.

Michael clerked at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. for the Honorable William C. Bryson, and has also argued many cases before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, including appeals from both the Patent Office and District Courts.

Quarterly Index of Federal Circuit Cases

Since serving as a Federal Circuit clerk, Mr. Hawes has monitored that court's precedential opinions and prepares a deeply outlined index by subject matter (invalidity, infringement, claim construction, etc.) of relevant legal points - in order to assist clients seeking to identify recent law relevant to a particular problem. The links below provide the most recent documents.

Admission & Affiliations

  • State Bar of Texas
  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits
  • United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas
  • Past Chair of the Science and Technology Law Section, American Bar Association
  • American Bar Foundation, Fellow
  • SDTX Patent Rules Advisory Group
  • J.D., Harvard Law School 1998
    magna cum laude
    Lead Editor, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, Rice University 1993
    Eta Kappa Nu

Experience

  • AT&T (District of Delaware and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defending patent lawsuit regarding co-extensive phone and internet signal systems
  • AT&T Mobility (Central District of California and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding mobile phone location privacy controls
  • AT&T Mobility (Northern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding quality of service network traffic protocols
  • AT&T, DirecTV and Dish Network (District of Delaware and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding simultaneous recording and playback technologies
  • Arkwright Advanced Coating (District of Minnesota and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Principal counsel for appeal from six patent lawsuit regarding chemical application technologies
  • BASF (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Argued appeal of inter partes reexamination concerning catalytic pollution reduction technologies
  • Baylor College of Medicine (Southern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defending patent lawsuit concerning cancer treatment technologies
  • Chicago Mercantile Exchange, New York Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade (Eastern District of Texas, Southern District of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended four patent lawsuit regarding compression technologies for financial information
  • Dell (Eastern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding hard drive technologies
  • Fusion-io (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit)ABS Principal counsel for mandamus petition regarding venue transfer for multiple patent lawsuit regarding flash memory software technologies
  • Hughes Network Systems (Eastern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding satellite transmission technologies
  • Hydril (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Argued appeal of patent infringement and Walker-Process antitrust case regarding proprietary connectors for hydrocarbon conduits
  • M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Appeal of patent lawsuit involving positron emission tomography
  • ON Semiconductor (Northern District of California, District of Delaware, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Principal counsel for appeals and mandamus petitions from multiple patent lawsuits and inter partes reviews regarding power conversion technologies
  • Samsung Electronics Co. (Eastern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding media security technologies
  • Samsung Electronics Co. (Southern District of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defending patent lawsuit concerning Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology
  • TD Ameritrade (Eastern District of Texas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit concerning encryption software technologies
  • Tele-Communications, Inc. (later Comcast) (Southern District of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) Defended patent lawsuit regarding optical cable equipment
  • Toshiba (Northern District of California and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) Defended a patent license agreement lawsuit regarding semiconductor packaging technologies


Awards and Community

Recognized for Intellectual Property: Appellate in Chambers USA, 2023

Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer (Thomson Reuters), 2014-2018

Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer-Rising Star (Thomson Reuters), 2005-2010