Michael E. Coyne prosecutes and secures patent protection for clients in a wide variety of industries, including the manufacturing of process control equipment, automotive components, and beverage production equipment. Clients value his passion and commitment; qualities demonstrated in his work as a contract patent examiner while in law school and as an intern at a Tokyo law firm. They also gain from his ready mastery of mechanical engineering technologies and their commercial applications, built from his extensive experience as mechanical design engineer developing consumer products, testing equipment and switch components.
Recent Client Work:
Advised client investigating hydrophobic coating technologies on optimal patent filing strategies and their potential in light of third party patent landscape analysis.
Representative Experience:
Mr. Coyne has prepared and prosecuted patent applications for diverse inventions, including such applications as:
Process control equipment;
Manufacturing equipment;
Automotive components;
Beverage production equipment;
Proximity switches;
Absorbent materials.
Background and Credentials:
With the benefit of his engineering background and legal training, Mr. Coyne has focused on patent work for clients in mechanical engineering technologies.
He earned his J.D. from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2008, where he was awarded an "Honors-at-Entrance" Scholarship and was an Associate Editor of the Loyola University Chicago International Law Review. While as a law student, he served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Michael T. Mason, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.
His commitment to intellectual property work also began while still in law school. He participated in the Santa Clara University School of Law's Japanese intellectual property law summer program in Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, Mr. Coyne served as an intern at a Tokyo law firm assisting with the prosecution of U.S. and PCT patent applications. He also worked as a contract patent examiner responsible for preparing International Search Reports and Written Opinions for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's use in response to PCT applications. In addition, he worked as a summer associate at a Chicago general practice firm, where he prepared patent applications and supported the litigation practice.
Prior to studying the law, Mr. Coyne worked as a project engineer in the consumer products industry, where he gained extensive experience in all aspects of new product development, with an emphasis on the design of injection molded plastic parts and assemblies. He also worked as a design engineer developing and modifying circuit board-mounted electrical components and related testing and production equipment. He additionally has experience in the design of tooling, electro-mechanical systems, and automated packaging equipment.
Mr. Coyne received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998.