Profile
Among the firm’s many client-driven attributes, Taylor English attorneys use a state-of-the-art docketing system to meet clients’ intellectual property-related deadlines and to provide clients real-time access to their documents.
Michael Cicero is of counsel to Taylor English’s Intellectual Property Department, assisting with patent prosecution. While at the University of South Carolina School of Law, Mr. Cicero worked as a patent disclosure writer for the Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division of Westinghouse Electric Corp., serving as a liaison between inventors in Columbia, S.C., and Westinghouse’s Patent Committee in Pittsburgh.
After working for Westinghouse, Mr. Cicero amassed more than 22 years of private practice in intellectual property with law firms in Greenville, S.C., and, beginning in 1997, in Atlanta. Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Mr. Cicero possesses patent prosecution experience in the mechanical and electromechanical arts, and he drafted patents and dozens of office action responses and petitions. Examples of patents he has authored include those covering a three-dimensional prototyping process, a machine for opening signature sheets, and a process of producing soft elastic gelatin capsules.
Mr. Cicero also has substantial intellectual property litigation experience. His patent litigation experience includes Markman (patent claim interpretation) proceedings, trials, and motion practice. A significant portion of his experience also includes trademark infringement litigation.
Mr. Cicero received his BS in civil engineering from The Citadel in 1987, attained membership in Tau Beta Pi, and is a South Carolina-certified engineer in training. Mr. Cicero also obtained a BS in electrical engineering from Kennesaw State University in 2015.
Memberships
Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, Member
Georgia Italian American Bar Association, Member
Intellectual Property Owners Association, Dilution Subcommittee of U.S. Trademark Law Committee, Member, 2010-2013
Community Involvement
Brief Reviewing Judge, Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition, 2003-2010, 2013
Colony Square Toastmasters Club, Member, 2006-present (President, 2007-2008; VP of Education, 2013-2014 and 2006-2007; VP of Public Relations, 2010-2011; VP of Membership, 2011-2012)
Atlanta Citadel Club, Member, 2005-present
Practice Highlights
Experience
Drafted and prosecuted multiple patent applications for new technologies in the packaging industry and industrial valve industry.
Provided counsel to client Mueller Water Products, Inc. on all patent and trade secret matters. These matters range from prosecuting and maintaining the client’s patent portfolio, to counseling the client on protecting its trade secrets.
Newsroom
Speaking Engagements
- March 15, 2016
- "The 'Scrivener’s Error' Regarding Registration Defense to Dilution Claims in Lanham Act Section 43(c)(6)," Intellectual Property Owners Association Annual MeetingSeptember 10, 2012
- Panelist, Strafford Legal Publications webinar: "Divided Patent Infringement: Strategies for Claim Drafting, Prosecution and Litigation to Maximize Enforcement of Patent Rights," April 1, 2010
Publications
- February 28, 2017
- November 21, 2016
- November 9, 2016
- August 14, 2015
- December 11, 2014
- "Comments on Twombly, Iqbal from Northern District of Ga.," Law360.comMarch 12, 2013
- "First-to-File and Choice-of-Forum Roots Run Too Deep for Micron to Curb Most Races to the Courthouse," J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y., 90 (August 2008): 547; cited and quoted a combined six times in Cherokee Nation v. Nash, 724 F.Supp.2d 1159, N.D. Okl.2010
- "Divided Infringement of Method Patent Claims: A Tough Sell," Georgia Bar IP Law Section NewsletterJune 2009
- With Jennifer Collins, "The Impact of MedImmune Upon Both Licensing and Litigation," J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y., 89: 748September 2007
- With Lance Reich, "Time's Up! Inaction Causes Loss of Patent Rights," South Carolina Lawyer, Vol. 10, No. 4, (January/February 1999): p. 32, quoted in STX, Inc. v. Brine, Inc., 37 F. Supp. 2d 740, 760 n.4, D. Md. 1999, aff'd, 211 F.3d 588, 232 F.3d 915, Fed. Cir.2000
News Releases
- "Georgia's New Patent Law: Bad Faith Threats of Infringement Create New Liabilities," Georgia Bar JournalDecember 11, 2014
- June 21, 2014
Services
Education
Kennesaw State University, BS, Electrical Engineering, cum laude, 2015
University of South Carolina School of Law, JD, 1990
The Citadel, BS, Civil Engineering, 1987
Bar Admissions
Georgia
South Carolina
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Accolades
Georgia Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2005