Joe is a patent litigator and licensed patent attorney with intellectual property experience in patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters. As described in IAM Patent 1000, one of the world’s leading IP publications, “Joseph Miotke is the gold standard. His understanding of the subject matter is faultless. He is proactive and gives practical advice. Most importantly, he is sensitive to the resources and purse strings of the company. He is very popular.” One client confides: “Joe is the best counsel we have ever worked with. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the market, and advocates strategic management and monetization – something many firms have not yet grasped.”
Joe is a leader in Wisconsin’s legal, intellectual property, and education communities. He was appointed by Governor Scott Walker, and confirmed by the Wisconsin Senate, to serve on the Wisconsin State Public Defender Board, which provides oversight of the State Public Defender’s Office. Joe also currently leads one of the largest k-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM”) programs in the United States through serving as the Statewide Leadership Chair for Project Lead The Way (“PLTW”) – Wisconsin. PLTW Wisconsin has served over 500,000 Wisconsin students through one or more of its programs. He also was appointed to Marquette University’s Research & Innovation Council, which advises University administration and leadership on research, technology, and innovation matters.
Joe is a leader in Wisconsin’s Intellectual Property and entrepreneurship community. He is a Past-President of the Wisconsin Intellectual Property Law Association (“WIPLA”), Wisconsin’s largest group of intellectual property attorneys and among the oldest of such groups in the United States. Joe is also on the leadership of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, among the world’s largest group of intellectual property professionals. Joe was also appointed to Marquette University’s Research and Innovation Council, which provides guidance and recommendations to the Leadership of Marquette University.
He has been part of patent litigation teams securing verdicts and settlements in excess of $150 million. He is also one of the only attorneys in Wisconsin, and among the few in the United States, who has negotiated IP monetization transactions. Likewise he has substantial experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications across a wide array of technologies and negotiating complex intellectual property transactions with many of the world’s largest technology innovators. Joe is a frequent author and speaker to international audiences regarding the interplay of intellectual property and entrepreneurship, IP monetization, patent litigation, ethics, and other IP related topics. He is recognized as an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, and Intellectual Asset Management magazine identified him in their IAM Patent 1000 as one of the world’s leading patent attorneys.
Joe is also a frequent lecturer to international audiences on intellectual property topics. He has presented to many of the world’s leading intellectual property organizations at their annual meetings, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association (“AIPLA”), the Association of University Technology Managers (“AUTM”), and the Licensing Executives Society (“LES”). In addition, he has taught or guest lectured at many universities including the University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marquette University College of Engineering, Marquette University Law School, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business and Economics.
Joe is also very active in Wisconsin’s entrepreneurship space. He is part of the leadership for the Bizstarts program, which provides early guidance to Wisconsin entrepreneurs. He is also a mentor to gener8tor, a nationally recognized startup accelerator based in Wisconsin. As a mentor to the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (“WWBIC”), Joe instructs and coaches entrepreneurs from Milwaukee’s central city and beyond. Joe likewise works with The Commons, a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship collaboration between the 23 colleges and universities in Southeastern Wisconsin and industry.
Clients
Joe’s clients range from Fortune 500 companies to startups and sole inventors. His uniquely diverse background in IP enables him to counsel clients on sophisticated transactional and litigation matters. Joe’s down-to-earth style is appreciated by startups and sole inventors who are new to the patent process and other intellectual property matters.
Client Recommendation
“My company, Retriever Industries LLC, retained Joe to monetize a patent. Prior to meeting Joe, my business partner and I had run out of funding for our business startup and returned to our ‘day jobs.’ The value of our core business asset – a patent – which we felt had considerable marketability, was diminishing daily. Joe’s understanding of the value of intellectual property, his contacts, and his ability to assist us in putting together a strong and compelling offering were keys to our finding a purchaser, and doing so in an efficient time frame. In addition, we cannot thank Joe enough for shepherding us through the transfer process and helping us complete a clean transaction. The words ‘professional,’ ‘helpful,’ and ‘knowledgeable’ all immediately come to mind when we think of Joe, and we certainly would highly recommend Joe and look forward to working with him again.” – John J. Black, Sr. CPCU, Former CEO – Retriever Industries, LLC
Notable Representations
- Trial team member representing the patent owner in a patent infringement action involving medical device technology that prevailed at trial, resulting in a settlement in excess of $120 million.
- Trial team member representing the patent owner in a patent infringement action involving engine technology that prevailed at trial, resulting in the entry of a permanent injunction against the defendant.
- Co-first chair in a patent infringement arbitration representing the accused infringer that resulted in a determination of no infringement.
- Successfully represented a Fortune 500 company in a seven figure information technology transaction involving the roll-out of new technology used enterprise-wide.
- Successfully placed one of the world’s largest audio/video music concert archives into the ICAP Ocean Tomo Intellectual Property Auction.