Michael Dilworth is the founder and managing partner of Dilworth IP, an intellectual property law firm he launched in January 2007 to serve as a strategic partner to innovative companies navigating the evolving IP landscape. For nearly two decades, he has led the firm with a clear mission: help clients transform innovation into business value through practical, forward-looking IP strategy.
With over 30 years of experience, Michael brings a rare combination of legal depth, technical fluency, and commercial instinct. Before founding Dilworth IP, he served as chief intellectual property counsel for a publicly traded industrial company with more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue. There, he built and led the in-house IP function, directed a global patent and trademark portfolio, and helped senior leadership integrate IP into core business decisions.
That experience shaped the firm’s founding philosophy: intellectual property should be treated as a strategic asset, not a legal formality. Today, Michael applies that principle across industries—working with general counsel, CFOs, and business leaders to craft IP strategies that support growth, mitigate risk, and strengthen market position.
Michael is a trusted advisor across the full IP lifecycle, including U.S. and international patent and trademark prosecution, portfolio management, licensing and transactional IP, post-grant proceedings, freedom-to-operate analysis, and global enforcement. His international experience includes Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filings, European Patent Office proceedings, and inter partes actions such as oppositions, nullity actions, and cancellations.
Above all, clients value Michael’s ability to cut through complexity, align IP protection with business goals, and provide practical, executive-level insight when the stakes are high.
Accomplishments
- Founded and continue to lead Dilworth IP, a strategically focused IP law firm serving high-growth startups and multinational companies alike.
- Built and led the in-house IP department for a publicly traded industrial company, overseeing IP strategy for a $1.5B+ global operation.
- Managed a 2,500+ global patent portfolio for a multinational industrial company, aligning filings with evolving R&D and international growth strategies.
- Served as sole IP counsel for a privately held company, responsible for a 1,000+ patent and trademark portfolio across multiple jurisdictions.
- Negotiated a multi-million-dollar joint development agreement involving complex IP ownership, licensing, and enforcement provisions.
- Directed the IP aspects of a $10 million product line divestiture, ensuring clear asset transfer and IP risk allocation.
- Drove rapid innovation capture, filing 60+ U.S. patent applications over two years for a client’s business division.
- Significantly expanded and diversified a major international client’s IP portfolio, improving alignment with product pipeline and market strategy.
- Drafted and prosecuted hundreds of U.S. patent applications across diverse technical areas, including mechanical, chemical, and software-based technologies.
- Negotiated and closed strategic IP and commercial agreements, including:
- Licensing and joint development contracts
- Software and IT service agreements
- Supply and confidentiality agreements
- Cross-border IP ownership frameworks
Technology Areas
Michael's fields of technology include agricultural chemicals, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, organosilicon chemistry, organophosphorus chemistry, bromine chemistry, fatty acids, urethanes, lubricants, fragrance chemicals and compositions, cosmetic formulations, foods, polymers, catalysts, petroleum processing, medical and mechanical devices.