Michael Vella is head of the Litigation Practice in China. Mr. Vella assists clients in the litigation of international business disputes, including cases involving intellectual property, securities, products liability, and commercial litigation. He also counsels clients in the electronics and biotechnology industries regarding litigation avoidance and adversarial license negotiations.
Before relocating to the firm's Shanghai office, Mr. Vella was ranked as one of the top Intellectual Property Litigation Lawyers in Southern California by Super Lawyer.
Mr. Vella has long experience representing clients in international disputes, including high-stakes litigation in the patent, copyright and trademark areas. As an example of his defense work, Mr. Vella represented semiconductor manufacturer, Macronix International Co. Ltd.., in a case in which its U.S. competitor, Atmel Corporation, asserted two semiconductor patents relating to certain circuits and fabrication processes. The case threatened to enjoin Macronix's nonvolatile memory products from the U.S. market. However, Mr. Vella won a bench trial for Macronix invalidating Atmel's circuit patent and won a summary judgment motion invalidating all but one of the claims of Atmel's process patent. After these victories, the case settled favorably for Macronix.
Mr. Vella is a member of the California Bar. He is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Third Circuit, and Ninth Circuit. He is also admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California. Mr. Vella served as a law clerk to the Honorable Roger B. Andewelt of the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington D.C.