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 practice group, 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

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member, April 2015-present

Intellectual Property Owners Association, Dilution Subcommittee of U.S. Trademark Law Committee, Member, 2010-2013

Community Involvement

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

Newsroom

Speaking Engagements

Publications

  • Chapter, "Intellectual Property Litigation," Georgia Business Litigation Book
    August 14, 2015
  • "Georgia’s New Patent Law: Bad Faith Threats of Infringement Create New Liabilities," Georgia Bar Journal
    December 11, 2014
  • "Comments on Twombly, Iqbal from Northern District of Ga.," Law360.com
    March 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 Newsletter
    June 2009
  • With Jennifer Collins, "The Impact of MedImmune Upon Both Licensing and Litigation," J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y., 89: 748
    September 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

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