Sylvester, Margaret Comer

An experienced litigator and trial lawyer, Mike Sutton has been involved in all aspects of intellectual property litigation, including preliminary injunction hearings, jury trials, and arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Sutton's clients include major corporations such as Baker Hughes Inc., Grant Prideco, National Oilwell Varco, ION Geophysical, Technip, and Shell.

Some of Mr. Sutton's more recent achievements include the following: Mr. Sutton represented ION Geophysical Corp. in a patent infringement lawsuit, resulting in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas finding, in a jury verdict, that its competitor infringed on the ION patent. His client was awarded all requested compensatory damages.  Mr. Sutton represented Baker Hughes in a trade secret trial and obtained a $25.2 million jury verdict; the case then settled. Mr. Sutton represented Gerber as a defendant in two different patent infringement suits on three separate patents. The juries found the three patents in the two suits not infringed and invalid. One case was appealed, and a holding of no liability was sustained. Mr. Sutton represented Baker Hughes in a trade secret suit and obtained a Preliminary Injunction preventing further use of Baker Hughes' trade secrets and preventing an employee from working in a technology area for a year, even though the employee did not have a noncompete. Mr. Sutton represented iSymphony in a trade mark infringement suit, defeated a motion for preliminary injunction and then obtained a jury verdict of no trademark infringement, no dilution and no unfair competition. Mr. Sutton represented CaseTech in a suit brought by Weatherford and defeated a motion for preliminary injunction.

Mr. Sutton has been named as one of The Best Lawyers in America for fourteen consecutive years and was recently named as one of the top five IP lawyers in Texas by Texas Lawyer, based upon extensive interviews of lawyers and judges throughout the state. He is also listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and was most recently described as a "top-notch litigator."  Additionally, Texas Lawyer named two of the verdicts (Baker Hughes, Inc. v. Varel Holdings Inc & Input/Output Inc. v. Sercel Inc.) he helped clients secure to their Top Texas Verdicts of 2010.