Vella, Michael W.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Languages

• English

Lawyer Overview

Mike Vella assists clients in the litigation and arbitration of their international business disputes, including claims of intellectual property infringement, securities law violations, and breach of contract. He also counsels clients regarding litigation avoidance and adversarial negotiations.

Mike has two decades of experience helping clients, as plaintiffs and defendants, to resolve their international disputes. Prior to joining Jones Day in 2010, he represented Macronix International, a semiconductor manufacturer, in a case in which its U.S. competitor, Atmel Corporation, alleged infringement of certain semiconductor process and circuit patents. Mike won a summary judgment motion invalidating nearly all the claims of Atmel's process patent. He then won a bench trial for Macronix invalidating Atmel's circuit patent. After these victories, the case settled favorably for Macronix.

Among the other Chinese companies that Mike has assisted in their international disputes are Beijing Tong Ren Tang (contract and trademark litigation), Chinmax Medical Systems (international arbitration), Huawei (patent litigation), Acon Laboratories (patent litigation), and Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (Shanghai) Co. (trade secret litigation).

Throughout his career, Mike has been active in pro bono activities, including working with the NAACP in securing the release of 35 falsely convicted African American residents of Tulia, Texas; working on numerous guardianship cases on behalf of abused, abandoned, and neglected children; and serving on the Board of the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program.

Areas of Practice

• Intellectual Property
• International Litigation & Arbitration

West Practice Categories

Copyrights, Intellectual Property Law, International Intellectual Property, Patents, Technology Licensing, Trade Dress, Trade Secrets, Trademarks

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• U of California - Berkeley

Published Works

• Supreme People's Court Seeks to Harmonize Chinese Patent Litigation, coauthor, Morrison & Foerster China IP Newsletter, 2009
• Display of IP Strength in China: Lilly Wins Patent Dispute for Cialis Against Domestic Chinese Company, PharmAsia News, 2009
• China Strikes Back: Often the Target of IP Infringement Suits, China is Launching Offensives of its Own, MOFOTECH Magazine, 2009
• Chint v Schneider - US$23 Million Aberration at the Future of Chinese Patent Litigation? Morrison & Foerster China IP Newsletter, 2009
• 68 Billon Dollar Question: Could China's Government Block Worldwide Merger of Wyeth and Pfizer? PharmAsia News, 2009
• The East and the Rest, The Economist China, 2009
• Insider Analysis from Morrison & Foerster LLP: China's Bolar Exemption - Beware of the Uncertainties of Its Reach and Scope (part 2), coauthor, PharmAsia News, Vol. 9, Iss. 30, No. 9005, 2009
• Insider Analysis from Morrison & Foerster LLP: China's Bolar Exemption - Beware of the Uncertainties onts Reach and Scope (part 1), coauthor, PharmAsia News, Vol. 9, Iss. 30, No. 2007, 2009
• The Importance of a Product Liability Protection System as Reflected by the 'Sanlu Incident', Legal Daily China, 2009
• Beyond the Due Diligence: Patent Protection in China, coauthor, NVCA Todqy, National Venture Capital Association, 2008
• What You Need to Know About Managing a Patent Mega-Case, coauthor, The Law Journal Newsletter’s The Corporate Counselor, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2005
• Behind the Footnote in Merck KGaA v Integra, coauthor, Pharmaceutical Law Insight, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2005
• Which Way Europe? The Controversy Over Computer-Implemented Inventions, EuroWatch, Vol. 17, No. 11, 2005
• Open Source Software: Assessing The IP Risks, IP Law Bulletin, 2005

Address

30th Floor, Shanghai Kerry Centre
1515 Nanjing Road West
Shanghai 20004, China

Phones

86.21.2201.8162 (Business Phone)

Faxes

86.21.5298.6569 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com