Overview
Mike joined Spruson & Ferguson in October 2020 after 16 years of experience in another leading Australian IP firm.
Mike is a registered patent attorney specialising in the chemical sciences. He completed a Bachelor degree in Industrial Chemistry at the University of New South Wales in 1993, graduating with Honours. He was awarded a PhD for his research in the area of free radical polymerization kinetics at the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales in 1997. Mike has published a number of peer-reviewed research articles in international journals and has presented at numerous scientific conferences and meetings.
After completing his PhD, Mike worked in the surface coatings industry and simultaneously completed a Graduate Certificate in Surface Coatings Technology. He has also worked in the research and product development laboratories for a multinational building products manufacturer, and for a business that manufactured various products via injection moulding and polymer extrusion techniques.
As Principal in the Chemical/Life Sciences group in Sydney, Mike assists numerous local and international clients in various aspects of Australian and New Zealand patent practice including drafting, prosecution, oppositions, patentability / validity opinions and freedom to operate advice.
Mike works closely with several leading Australian universities and research institutes and has also represented many start-ups. He has drafted and prosecuted patents applications across the development spectrum, from early stage inventions to market ready products. He has also drafted patent applications in diverse fields of technology. For example, polymer composites, surface coatings and electrothermic coatings, apparatus and methods for welding, catalysts, apparatus for conducting nucleic acid amplification and pyrosequencing, biocompatible materials, optical input devices and user interface methods, cementitious materials, building products, medical devices, mining methods and micro- and optofluidic devices. Michael is a Chartered Chemist of the Royal Australia Chemical Institute and won the RACI Treloar Prize for his PhD research. He is also a named inventor on a PCT application.
Mike is a registered Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney. He is also a Fellow of The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) and a Member of The Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand (IPSANZ). Mike is a chartered member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI).
Mike was a Councillor at The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA), and was responsible for developing and running the IP Administrator’s Course (Course Co-Ordinator 2022/23). Mike has delivered educational webinars to the profession through his involvement with IPTA, and was recognised as a Legal Influencer in IP for Australasia in the first Lexology Awards.