Mike Bettinger

Mike Bettinger's decades-long track record showcases is ability to bridge the gap between complex technology and jury comprehension. His career took a pivotal turn during a jury trial in the 1990s between Scripto-Tokai and Gillette over erasable ink pens in the Central District of California, Judge Lordes Baird presiding.

Bettinger's credits his mentors who taught him to "understand the technology like an engineer, then wrap it in a compelling narrative like a master storyteller."

"The patents lawyers with technical backgrounds often had trouble in those days relating to everyday jurors. I saw an opening, and never looked back," he said.

This approach has been instrumental in his success, particularly in cases for Canadian Solar, which, while ostensibly about converting sunlight into electricity, fundamentally revolve around the intricate process of silicon fabrication to optimize energy storage, Bettinger explained.

"The techniques used are similar to those used in fabricating silicon into CPUs, GPUs and memory," he said. "Our long-history of defending semiconductor chip manufacturers, and understanding the fabrication process, played a significant role in our success in the Canadian Solar cases."

In one of such matters, Sidley was retained after its client was sued by Advanced Silicon Group Technologies. Advanced Silicon Group Technologies v. Canadian Solar, 4:21-cv-04514 JSW (N.D. Cal., filed June 11, 2021).
Following a weeklong hearing at the ITC, an initial determination found no violation of Section 337 by Canadian Solar and its accused polycrystalline solar cells for any of the four remaining asserted patents. In February 2023, the full commission affirmed.

Bettinger's expertise in semiconductors is further demonstrated through his representation in cases for Japan-based Renesas, involving sophisticated System on Chips (SoCs), and for Taiwan-based Nanya, concerning their high-end DRAM memory chips.

"Every case has its own obstacles, but the prevailing one that we see over and over again is the need to tailor the message in a way that is going to resonate with the jurors," he said. "Figuring this out requires experience from past battles, many long nights and in-depth mock trial exercises in advance of trial. Knowing what will, and won't, work before selecting a jury goes a long way in determining the outcome."

Highlighting trends, Bettinger said though he has been fortunate to have had favorable jury verdicts and good results in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, too many NPE patent cases are being filed, and not removed from, those courts.

"Regardless of case outcomes, the system seems out of balance," he said. "On a related note, the amount of private equity money that is funding NPE cases has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Not sure that is what the founders had in mind when they included patents in the Constitution."