Skip to Main Content
Our Commitment to Diversity
Michael J. Freno

Michael Freno is a partner in the firm’s Seattle office. He counsels clients on intellectual property matters and specializes in intellectual property litigation and opinions relating to validity and infringement. 

Based on 15 years of litigation experience, Michael advises pharmaceutical companies on federal Hatch-Waxman litigations and Patent Office proceedings, including Inter Partes Review and Post-Grant Review. His litigations have involved all kinds of small molecule pharmaceuticals, dosage forms, and methods of use, including anti-HIV agents, beta-blockers, atypical anti-psychotics, chemotherapeutic agents, oral contraceptives, antidepressants, calcium-channel blockers, nitrogen scavenging drugs, hypothyroidism treatments, ADHD and ADD drugs.  

Michael also counsels clients on all aspects of the regulatory and litigation strategy for successfully launching pharmaceutical products. Starting with product selection, Michael advises clients on design-around opportunities, performs patent landscape analyses, provides non-infringement and invalidity opinions, and counsels clients on FDA regulatory hurdles.

In addition to his pharmaceutical practice, Michael has successfully litigated IP cases across the United States, including patent cases of various technologies, including biologics (antibodies against the DR5 death receptor), polymers (fluoroelastomers), mechanical products (fiberglass reinforced doors) and electrical engineering technology (organic light emitting diodes and LCDs). Michael also has extensive experience in unfair competition, false advertising, and trademark infringement.

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Michael was partner at another Seattle law firm, and before that, he worked in New York for 11 years, specializing in complex patent litigation matters.

Before law school, Michael taught logic as a graduate student at both The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also developed methods to test the stability of novel drug formulations for two years as an analytical chemist at G.D. Searle in the1990s.

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice (2024)
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Patent Law (2024)
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association
Return to top of page

Email Disclaimer

We welcome your email, but please understand that if you are not already a client of K&L Gates LLP, we cannot represent you until we confirm that doing so would not create a conflict of interest and is otherwise consistent with the policies of our firm. Accordingly, please do not include any confidential information until we verify that the firm is in a position to represent you and our engagement is confirmed in a letter. Prior to that time, there is no assurance that information you send us will be maintained as confidential. Thank you for your consideration.

Accept Cancel