Michael D. Kaminski
Retired Partner
Michael D. Kaminski was a partner and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. He litigated, prosecuted, and counseled clients primarily in the chemical, pharmaceutical and chemical engineering fields. Michael was the IP Department’s operations chair, responsible for managing the department’s support structure, best practices and quality assurance initiatives. He was a member of the firm’s IP Litigation, Mechanical & Electromechanical Technologies Chemical and Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practices, as well as the Automotive and Life Sciences Industry Teams.
In the “IP asset management” field, he counseled some of the world’s largest corporations. He applied “Six Sigma” principles to a corporation’s patent process, worked in evaluating and valuating future technologies, evaluated large portfolios to help determine cost-savings and licensing opportunities, and set up internal patent department policies, among other projects.
Michael was also an “Invited Research Scholar” in 2005 at Japan’s “Institute of Intellectual Property”; where he conducted a study on the metrics and measurements that a corporate patent department could use to measure its success.
Prior to law school, Michael worked as a research chemical engineer for a major oil company and for a major chemical company.
Awards and Recognition
- Stand-out Lawyer, Thomson Reuters (2025-2026)
- Professional designation of “Master Advocate” by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA®)
- Peer Review Rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review RatingsTM system, for 20 years including currently
- Named as a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2020)
- Selected to appear in IP Stars from Managing IP (MIP) magazine for his intellectual property work in Japan since 2015 and in Washington, D.C. since 2014
- Recognized in the Chambers Global 2014 and 2015 guides for his extensive knowledge of US IP law and matters pertaining to the chemical, pharmaceutical and chemical engineering arenas and was praised for the skilled and experienced approach he takes to handling matters
- Recognized by The Legal 500 for his work in intellectual property in the area of international firms and joint ventures in Japan (2010, 2011) and in the area of corporate mergers & acquisitions: Japan: International firms and joint ventures (2011)
- Selected among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators® for Washington, D.C. (2019 – 2020)
Affiliations
Michael was on the board of directors of the AIPLA. He was an adjunct professor of law at The American University and at George Mason University and Temple University (Tokyo) law schools. He also taught at the John Marshall School of Law and the University of Michigan (at both undergraduate level and law school). He was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemistry and the Law and recipient of the ACS’s Middlekauf Award. Michael was also selected as a Fellow of the AIPLA. In addition, he was an “Invited Research Scholar” at Japan’s Institute of Intellectual Property.
Presentations and Publications
Michael wrote over four dozen articles on patent prosecution and litigation. His articles have been published in such periodicals as Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society, Patent World, American University Law Review, and in AIPLA publications. Michael was on the editorial boards of the AIPLA Quarterly Journal, IP World, Patent World, and IP Strategy & Management, and has edited books on patent law. He spoke frequently on patent litigation and patent law topics.