Michael E. Flynn-O'Brien

Michael E. Flynn-O'Brien — Bunsow De Mory LLP (Redwood City, CA)

Focus areas. Flynn-O'Brien is a first-chair-style trial lawyer whose patent work spans a broad technology set rather than a single vertical. Firm and ranking profiles describe experience with semiconductors and memory (NAND flash, FPGA), cloud/enterprise software (Azure, SQL), networking and security, mobile devices, audio algorithms and hearables, autonomous navigation, drones/UAVs, robotics, materials science, and pharmaceuticals, plus trade secret and employee-mobility disputes. His tracked cases line up with that breadth: ridesharing/transport-matching patents (Carma), audio/earbud patents (Staton Techiya), semiconductor and IC-testing patents (BiTMICRO, Johnstech), network security (InfoExpress/Fortinet, Netskope/K.Mizra), and mechanical/metal-accessory patents (KI Metal v. Michael Kors).

Side preference. The record is predominantly patent-owner/plaintiff side: 3 of his 4 tracked appearances are plaintiff-side, and IAM's firm profile characterizes Bunsow De Mory as having a "strong focus on plaintiff-side work." The single defendant-side tracked entry is the Unified Patents v. Carma Technology IPR, where Carma appears as patent owner defending its claims — a defensive posture, not operating-company defense. He does take defense work as well (e.g., representing WinWay in Johnstech Int'l v. WinWay, and appearing for Netskope against asserted patents), so he is best described as primarily a patent-owner advocate who also handles selective defense matters, rather than a career operating-company defender or a volume PAE filer.

Firm context. He is a partner at Bunsow De Mory LLP (the tracked docket also shows the firm under the variant "Bunsow, De Mory"). Third-party directories list prior associations with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Steptoe & Johnson/Steptoe LLP, but I could not confirm those moves from a primary firm source, so treat them as unverified. He is consistently listed at Bunsow De Mory in filings through 2024–2026.

Notable matters. His most prominent current matter is Carma Technology Corp. et al. v. Uber Technologies (E.D. Tex., No. 2:25-cv-00029, Judge Gilstrap), filed January 2025, asserting five patents (U.S. 7,840,427; 10,741,071; 10,916,138; 11,017,668; 11,164,456) over ridesharing and capacity-matching technology, with trial calendared for November 2026; Uber filed five parallel IPRs (IPR2026-00305 through -00309) in March 2026, and Carma sought discretionary denial. He was also counsel for patent owner Staton Techiya in Staton Techiya v. Samsung — an unfavorable outcome: the district court dismissed Techiya's patent claims with prejudice in June 2024 on unclean-hands/unenforceability grounds, Samsung was awarded costs, and the Federal Circuit affirmed the related IPR invalidity rulings in a consolidated appeal in October 2025. On the favorable side, he represented patent owners Daedalus Blue (v. Microsoft), BiTMICRO (v. Intel; v. KIOXIA), and KI Metal (v. Michael Kors), each of which resolved on terms described as favorable, with BiTMICRO reported to have defeated several IPRs before settling.

PTAB / IPR experience. He appears regularly in AIA proceedings, almost always on the patent-owner side — defending claims in the Carma IPRs (2026), defeating IPRs for BiTMICRO, and handling reexamination/IPR exposure for Daedalus Blue — with associated Federal Circuit appellate work (Second and Ninth Circuit admissions plus the Federal Circuit). He does not appear to be a repeat IPR petitioner.

Bar / education. Columbia Law School, J.D. (Harlan Fiske Scholar); Rice University, B.A. in Economics; admitted in California, New York, and D.C. (the State Bar of California shows an October 2013 admission date, while profile listings cite 2009). He is a former software engineer and has been recognized in IAM Patent 1000, Benchmark Litigation ("Litigation Star," 2025–2026), and Super Lawyers (IP Litigation, 2023–2026).