Michael Martensen is the founder of Martensen IP. Mike has been practicing patent law since 1997, when as a patent agent he assisted a then growing LED company in North Carolina to defend itself against a patent lawsuit. Quickly recognizing the role of IP not only in the legal world but for its relation to business and engineering decisions led Mike to specialize his legal education and career in Intellectual Property law.
Today Mike’s practice covers a broad range of intellectual property matters including patent portfolio management, intellectual property due diligence review, anti-trust and patent issues, client counseling in areas of infringement and validity of patents, and freedom to operate and product clearance investigations.
Mike also leverages his successful career in the United States Air Force to help clients negotiate the pitfalls of working with the government sector in terms of protecting intellectual property as it relates to government contracts. Counseling start-up and emerging companies on protecting and commercializing intellectual property developed under government funding remains a central focus of Mike’s practice.
Mike has a wide range of experience prosecuting patents in the technical fields of computer science, software, Internet-related technologies, semiconductor devices and materials, encryption, fluid dynamics, medical devices and the mechanical arts (specializing in aerospace related inventions). In addition to procuring intellectual property rights for clients, Mike also possesses several years of experience as an IP/patent litigator, having participated in all aspects of patent, trademark and trade secret litigation.
Mike’s foundation in intellectual property law was laid working alongside leading IP attorneys at Wilson, Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Silicon Valley, Perkins Coie and Hogan Lovells. Prior to practicing law, Mike was a fighter pilot and mission commander in the USAF flying F-15s as well as a program manager for test and evaluation of advanced weapon systems.He currently holds an Air Transport Pilot Certificate. Although Michael travels extensively to the East and West coast, he, his wife and two children reside in Colorado.
