Michael Vincent Young, Sr.

Michael Vincent Young, Sr. is a highly experienced patent litigator and the Managing Partner of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner's Reston office. He maintains a dynamic practice focused on intellectual property issues for both established industry leaders and emerging companies. His technical expertise spans emerging computer and electronic technologies, including sensor-based systems, robotics, wireless tracking, supply chain management, telecommunications, Internet of Things (IoT), financial technology (FinTech), and crypto assets. Before his legal career, he worked in integrated circuit design, developing testing software for various ATM components.

Young is a first-chair litigator adept at crafting and executing strategies for both plaintiffs/patent owners and defendants/accused infringers in district court proceedings. His tracked appearances demonstrate this balance, with one plaintiff-side role and one defendant-side role, both for Federal Express Corporation, where he served as both counsel and of counsel. This dual experience extends to his robust post-grant practice, where he represents both petitioners and patent owners.

He possesses immense experience with Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings, having served as lead or backup counsel in over 70 inter partes review (IPR), covered business method (CBM), and post-grant review (PGR) matters, often involving issues of first impression. Notably, he defended FedEx against Qualcomm in patent infringement lawsuits concerning package tracking sensor technology, where his efforts in IPRs and an inter partes reexamination led to the cancellation of all asserted patent claims, a result affirmed by the Federal Circuit. He also successfully represented petitioner SharkNinja, cancelling claims asserted by iRobot related to robot vacuum cleaner technology at the PTAB, and was a lead associate for SAP in the first-ever PGR of a CBM patent, leading to the invalidation of all challenged claims. Young frequently presents on the strategic use of PTAB proceedings to challenge patent validity.

Mr. Young is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.