Michael L. Fuller

12790 El Camino Real
San Diego, CA 92130
Tel: 858-836-9000
Fax: 858-836-9001
Email:

Legal Areas of Emphasis

Intellectual Property Due Diligence

International Intellectual Property Matters

Patents

Right-to-Practice Opinions

Technical Areas of Emphasis

Biotechnology

Bioinformatics

Chemical

Electrical/Computers

Pharmaceuticals

Plants

Software, Internet and Data Processing

Telecommunications

Professional Profile

Michael L. Fuller is a partner in our San Diego office.  He focuses on patent prosecution for the biotechnology and computer/Internet industries, including the area of bioinformatics, which is the merger of these two disciplines.

Mr. Fuller’s practice includes patent prosecution, strategic planning and counsel relating to infringement and licensing issues, and intellectual property due diligence studies and related negotiations for mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Fuller currently represents clients in a wide range of technologies, including molecular biology, pharmaceuticals, computer hardware, Internet software and wireless communications.  He also represents a number of clients in bioinformatics technologies such as DNA arrays and biotechnology-related software.

Mr. Fuller obtained his Masters degree in biology, which related to developing software to analyze molecular structures.  Following graduate school he was co-founder and President of Intronics Computer Corporation, a company specializing in the design and fabrication of personal computers and printed circuit boards.  Mr. Fuller also oversaw the company's computer software projects, which included development of several custom software programs. Mr. Fuller is familiar with the Visual Foxpro, Visual Basic, HTML, Java, Perl and XML languages and standards.

Mr. Fuller was named a Leading Lawyer in Intellectual Property by The Legal 500 in 2008. Mr. Fuller joined the firm in 1991 and became a partner in 2002.

Education

University of San Diego School of Law (J.D. 1998)

University of California, Los Angeles (M.S. Biology 1986)

University of California at Los Angeles (B.S. Biology 1984)

Admissions/Qualifications

State Bar of California

U.S. District Court, Southern District of California

Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Professional Memberships & Affiliations

American Bar Association

American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)

Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)-2009 Vice-chair, U.S. Patent Law Committee

Licensing Executives Society (LES)-2005 Chair, Software Committee

San Diego County Bar Association-2003, 2004 Co-chairman, Intellectual Property Section

San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association

Editorial Staff, San Diego Lawyer Magazine

Teaching/Adjunct Professor

University of San Diego School of Law

“Biotechnology Law”

Articles, Speeches & Seminars

"Recent Changes to Intellectual Property Practice and their Effect on Approaches to Patent Information Strategies and Searching" presented at the 7th annual International Patent Information Conference & Exposition, Lisbon, Portugal, March 8, 2010

 "Best Practices for Corporations that are Potential Defendants", presented at the Realities and Myths in Patent Litigation Today meeting for the Intellectual Property Owners Association, Washington, DC, May 28, 2009.

"Patenting Biotechnology Inventions in the United States", presented at the Intellectual Property in the Americas: Free Trade Agreements, Current Issues and the Future of IP meeting for the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), Mexico City, Mexico, April 8, 2008.

"Making the Golden Goose:  How to Obtain and Manage Intellectual Property that Maximizes the Value of Your Deal", Presented to the GTCbio 5th Anti-Infectives Partnering and Deal Making Summit, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2008. 

"Legal Issues Surrounding Commercialization of eResearch", Presented to the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), San Diego, CA, February 29, 2008.

"Proposed USPTO Claims and Continuation Rules", Presented to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco, CA, September 25, 2007.

“Interviewing Patent Examiners”, Presented to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, Alexandria, VA, August 22, 2007.

"Unconventional Strategies for Invalidity and FTO Searching", Presented at IPI-Confex, Athens, Greece, March 7, 2006.   

"Creating Enforceable Internet Licenses", Presented at the Licensing Executives Society Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, February 23, 2006.

“Patent Prosecutions Strategies”, Presented at the Innovative IP Strategies Seminar, Vancouver, Canada, September 14, 2005. 

“Restriction Practice Initiatives”, Presented at the Intellectual Property Owners Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, September 12, 2005.

“Analyzing U.S. Patent Claims to Ensure a Proper Search”, Presented at IPI-Confex, Marbella, Spain, March 8, 2005.

"Recent Issues Relating to Software and Business Method Patents", Presented to the Licensing Executives Society, September 25, 2003.

"Strategies for Protecting Your Processes and Creating an IP Minefield for Your Competitors", Presented as part of the IBC Biopharmaceutical Production Series, March 5-7, 2003.

“Interviewing Inventors”, Presented to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, August 22, 2002.

“Publication of the Human Genome Doesn’t Prevent Patenting of Genes”, San Diego Daily Transcript Law Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 13, 2001.