Max Olson is a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property Group and Litigation Department. Max’s practice includes all aspects of dispute resolution, with special emphasis on patent litigation, international arbitration, trade secret litigation, sports litigation, and adversarial patent license negotiations. Max served as the chair of the Tokyo office Litigation Department from 2006 to 2013 and managing partner of the Los Angeles office from 2004 through 2006.

Max led the firm’s litigation team on behalf of Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. (“FSL”) in obtaining an order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California compelling arbitration of Cypress Semiconductor’s state court claims against FSL for alleged breach of contract, interference with contract, indemnity, and unfair competition in Tokyo, Japan, under the rules of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (FSL v. Cypress Semiconductor Corp., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97711 (N.D. Cal. June 5, 2023)).

Max led the firm’s patent litigation teams on behalf of JOLED Inc. in the global enforcement of its OLED display patents against Samsung’s Galaxy phones through parallel litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Case No. 6:20-cv-559) and the Japan Customs Office. Max also led the firm’s patent litigation teams defending infringement actions brought by Samsung Display and/or its affiliate, Intellectual Keystone Technology, against JOLED and its customers, including ASUSTeK Computer Inc. and ASUS Computer Int’l, in ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-1257 (In re Certain Organic Light Emitting Diode Displays, Components Thereof, and Products Containing Same) and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Case Nos. 6:21-cv-00017 and 6:21‑cv‑00053).

Max led the firm’s litigation and arbitration teams on behalf of FSL in a global dispute with Cypress Semiconductor over the intellectual property rights in and ownership of thousands of photomasks used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Max defeated Cypress’s motion for injunctive relief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in a significant victory for FSL (Cypress Semiconductor Corp. v. FSL, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32907 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2020)) and filed counterclaims against Cypress in an arbitration before the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association.

Max led the firm’s litigation team on behalf of Mitsui Chemicals in trade secret litigation involving irrigation systems in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and won a motion to dismiss the unfair trade practices, unfair competition, fraud, and conspiracy claims brought against Mitsui Chemicals (Developmental Techs. LLC v. Mitsui Chems., Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64630 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 15, 2019)).

Max represented U.S. Olympic gymnast Paul Hamm before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) in Switzerland, the world’s highest court for resolving sports disputes, in the highly publicized dispute over the gold medal in the men’s individual all-around event in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A panel of three CAS arbitrators rejected the appeal filed by the bronze medalist, Korean gymnast Yang Tae‑Young, and held unanimously that Mr. Hamm should keep his gold medal. Max also led the firm’s arbitration team on behalf of a mixed martial arts fighter and obtained an award from the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association releasing the fighter from an unfavorable contract with his promoter.

Max has also represented Fujitsu, FSL, Socionext, Konica Minolta, TDK, Yamaha, Micron Memory Japan, Advantest, Sega, Buffalo, and other major corporations in various adversarial patent license negotiations against some of the world’s largest patent holders.

Max is a longtime member of The Tokyo IP American Inn of Court and served as its President from 2021 through 2023. He is also a registered gaikokuho-jimu-bengoshi and a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association, the Litigation Section and Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

Max is widely recognized as one of Japan’s leading lawyers by many of the world’s foremost independent legal directories, including Chambers Global, Chambers Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500, IAM Patent 1000, The Best Lawyers in Japan, Managing Intellectual Property, Benchmark Litigation: Asia-Pacific, Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal), and IAM Global Leaders. Clients describe Max as “a visionary legal practitioner and scholar who represents the best in his field in the Tokyo and Japan markets for dispute resolution and IP-related matters.”

Max received his M.A. and B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan.