Michael D. Kaminski is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP. A member of the firm's IP Litigation, Mechanical & Electromechanical Technologies, Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practices, Mr. Kaminski has litigated, prosecuted, and counseled clients primarily in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and chemical engineering fields. He has been accorded the professional designation of "Master Advocate" by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He conducts "first chair" litigation in Federal District Court. Litigation in which Mr. Kaminski has been involved range from pharmaceuticals, LEDs, automotive safety devices, radiological contrast agents, paint spray booth additives, and distillation column packing to sports equipment and food technologies. He also has appellate court experience.
Mr. Kaminski is managing partner of the firm's Tokyo office. He was the IP Department's operations chair for a number of years, responsible for managing the department's support structure, best practices and quality assurance initiatives, and training.
Mr. Kaminski was on the board of directors of the AIPLA. He was an adjunct professor of law at The American University and also at George Mason University and Temple University (Tokyo) law schools. He has 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. Mr. Kaminski was also selected as a Fellow of the AIPLA. In addition, he was an "Invited Research Scholar" at Japan's Institute of Intellectual Property.
Mr. Kaminski has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system*. Mr. Kaminski has also been 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).
Mr. Kaminski has written 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. Mr. Kaminski 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 also speaks frequently on patent litigation and patent law topics.
Prior to law school, Mr. Kaminski worked as a research chemical engineer for a major oil company and for a major chemical company.
Mr. Kaminski graduated from the University of Michigan (B.S., chemical engineering; B.S., chemistry; B.A., communications, all with high honors, 1982; J.D., cum laude, 1986). He served as executive editor of the Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies.
Mr. Kaminski is admitted to practice in Illinois, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the U.S. District Court for the Districts of Nebraska, Connecticut and Northern Texas. He is also a member of the Trial Bar, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
*The Illinois Supreme Court does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and no award or recognition is a requirement to practice law in Illinois.
(Also at Tokyo, Japan Office)