Michael D. Okerlund

Minneapolis, Partner

Education

  • University of Iowa College of Law (J.D. with distinction, 2002).
  • Saint Olaf College, (B.A., Philosophy, 1996)
  • University of Minnesota (Biology)
  • Texas A&M University (Biology)

Bar Admissions

  • State of Minnesota
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • Pro hac vice practice before federal courts in California, Delaware, Missouri, New York, and Texas

Awards

  • Minnesota Lawyer, “Arctic Cat’s Winning Team” Attorney of the Year, 2018
  • Erich D. Mathias Award for International Social Justice, Recipient

Biography

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Okerlund served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of United Wheels, Inc., and its subsidiaries, including Huffy Corporation, one of the largest bicycle companies in the world. Prior to that, Mr. Okerlund served as the Vice President of Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary for Arctic Cat Inc., one of Minnesota’s largest public companies (since acquired by Textron). While at Arctic Cat, Mr. Okerlund had primary responsibility for all legal matters for the company, worldwide, including all intellectual property disputes and business litigation. Immediately prior to that, Mr. Okerlund served as the General Counsel to Hysitron, Inc., a world leader in nanomechanical and material science testing, with offices and research labs in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Mr. Okerlund previously practiced as an intellectual property litigator at the Robins Kaplan firm, representing companies such as General Electric, GE Medical, American Express, Honeywell and Best Buy in high-stakes patent and business disputes.

Experience

As the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for United Wheels and Huffy, as the Vice President of Legal Affairs for Arctic Cat Inc., and as the General Counsel for Hysitron, a world leader in nanotechnology and materials science (since acquired by Bruker), Mr. Okerlund has been responsible for the efficient management of hundreds of litigation matters including numerous intellectual property and business litigation matters, trade secrets and trademark disputes, product liability matters, and employment law and regulatory matters across the United States, Canada, Europe and abroad.

As counsel for Arctic Cat, launched a patent infringement action against a major competitor involving off-throttle steering technology used in personal watercraft. Testified at trial in the Southern District of Florida where Arctic Cat obtained a jury verdict of willful infringement, trebled damages (Approx. $48 Million) and the award of an ongoing royalty.

Obtained on behalf of Arctic Cat Inc. the voluntary dismissal of all patent claims from one of the largest and most sophisticated NPEs in the country. The entity voluntarily dismissed its case, shortly after it was filed, after Mr. Okerlund set forth a detailed, claim-by-claim demonstration of the invalidity of the asserted patents.

Managed the defense of a patent case against Arctic Cat in the United States involving alleged recreational vehicle technology and hundreds of millions in alleged damages. After a jury trial in the United States, all asserted claims were proven either invalid or not infringed.

Obtained on behalf of Arctic Cat Inc. the voluntary dismissal of all patent claims from a NPE asserting patent infringement on a vehicle patent after demonstrating the unenforceability of that patent. The dismissal was obtained shortly after the case was filed and without the need to engage in discovery or motion practice.

Hysitron Corporation v. MTS Systems Corporation & MTS System Corporation v. Hysitron Incorporated (District of Minnesota). Managed two patent infringement actions against Hysitron’s largest competitor, MTS Systems Corp. Both cases resolved after MTS’s case against Hysitron was dismissed on summary judgement, and MTS agreed to pay Hysitron Inc. $7.5 million to resolve allegations that it infringed two of Hysitron’s nano-scale testing patents and broke competition and trademark laws.

Litigation counsel for Honeywell et. al v. Apple et. al. in a highly complex patent infringement dispute. The case involved Honeywell’s liquid crystal display technology and was brought against numerous defendants in the consumer electronics industry (including Apple, Sony Corporation, Arima Display Corporation, Optrex America, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Casio Computer Co., Citizen Watch Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., International Display Technology, BEO Hydis Technology Co., Hitachi Displays, Ltd., Toppoly Optoelectronics Corp., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Philips Electronics North America Corp., Wintek Corp., Samsung SDI America, Inc., and others.). The majority of the cases eventually resolved with the defendants taking a license to Honeywell’s technology.

Litigation counsel for TV Interactive Data Corporation v. Microsoft Corp. in a patent infringement action involving the “AutoPlay” function contained in every version of Microsoft Windows™ from Windows 95 to the most current release, Windows “AutoPlay” is that part of Windows™ that tells the computer to run a program automatically once a storage medium like a CD-ROM or DVD is inserted. The case settled shortly before trial for a confidential amount.

Litigation counsel for Best Buy in RealSource, Inc. v. Best Buy Co., et al. involving patent claims asserted in U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas. The plaintiff alleged Best Buy’s gift cards infringed its patent, and sought more than $30 million in damages. Summary judgment was ultimately granted and affirmed by the Federal Circuit.

Litigation counsel for GE and GE Medical in a patent infringement action involving gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging technology. The parties settled the case prior to trial.