News

On September 1, 2026, the American Bar Association's Landslide magazine published Steve Hansen's article "Thirty Years After Markman." The article revisits the Supreme Court's April 1996 decision in Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370 (1996), and the promise that came with it – that the meaning of patent claims would be settled exclusively by judges rather than juries. The article looks at whether the decision has lived up to that promise in the three decades since.

Hansen IP Law is pleased to announce that Steve Hansen has been named a Michigan "Super Lawyer" in intellectual property for 2026. The Super Lawyers publication is put out annually by Thomson Reuters and recognizes top attorneys across a variety of practice areas nationwide based on a peer-nomination process. "It is an honor to be nominated by my peers again this year. I'm grateful and feel fortunate to get to do the work I love for a great group of clients," said Mr. Hansen.

We have migrated our "Your Patent Sucks" videos to the TikTok profile @yourpatentsucks. The focus is on discussing what makes a patent "strong" or "weak". We have found that people ask about the strength or weakness of patents without really knowing what that actually means. The videos also address some of the questions and problems that frequently arise in our practice.

Hansen IP Law is pleased to announce that Steve Hansen was named a 2025 Super Lawyer for intellectual property law in Michigan. Mr. Hansen said "It is an honor to be nominated by my peers as a Michigan Super Lawyer for 2025. I'm grateful and feel fortunate to get to do the work I love for a great group of clients."

Hansen IP Law is pleased to report that Steve Hansen has been named a Michigan "Super Lawyer" in the field of intellectual property for 2023. Mr. Hansen said, "Especially in this, my 25th year of practicing intellectual property law, I am humbled and gratified to have received this recognition from my peers. I am fortunate and grateful to have been able to enjoy a long career in such an interesting and exciting field."

Hansen IP Law has returned to "virtual" operations. During the pandemic, lawyers across the country began working remotely and firms began shedding office space. We have followed suit, and the reduced overhead helps us keep our fees down. For the first couple years of our existence, we operated virtually and have had the technology in place to do so since our inception. Our practice is global, and we have found that local office space is not critical to our business. However, remaining reachable is important to our business, and we remain committed to ensuring that our clients can receive timely advice no matter where they are located.

Through the use of remote videoconferencing technology, on July 7, 2020 Steve Hansen spoke to a class of young entrepreneurs about "IP Rights and Innovation for Business" at the United International University in Bangladesh. "The course instructor, Taslima Jahan, reached out to me on social media after seeing some of our IP videos and offered me a chance to discuss what IP could do for her students' emerging businesses," said Mr. Hansen. "Bangladesh is in the process of overhauling their IP laws and expects to reach developing country status in 2024. Her students were very engaged and had great questions. It was a pleasure to talk to them."

In August Hansen IP Law celebrated its 10th year of operation. Formed in August 2009 by Steve Hansen, the firm specializes in patent and trademark prosecution and counseling as well as patent litigation support. "I formed this firm after over 10 years of practicing law because I knew there were clients who needed experienced counsel but for whom typical law firm rates were cost-prohibitive," said Mr. Hansen. "By leveraging technology, we have been able to do without much of the administrative overhead that was typical of the firms I spent the first part of my career in. We continue this mission and vision today, and I am humbled and grateful that we have achieved the 10 year milestone. We owe it to a loyal group of fantastic clients."

The firm is pleased to announce that Steve Hansen has been named a "Super Lawyer" for 2019 in Southern California. "I am very grateful to have been named a Super Lawyer for 2019 in Southern California," Mr. Hansen said. "I began practicing law in Los Angeles, and I have several clients and strong ties to Southern California. I also litigate patent matters through my affiliation with LTL Attorneys in LA."

This Summer Hansen IP Law principal Steve Hansen celebrates his 20th year in IP Law. "IP has been and continues to be an exciting and challenging area of the law, both because of the technical aspects and the law itself. Not only have I seen huge changes in intellectual property law, but also in its prominence and the public's awareness of it. I feel privileged to work in such a dynamic and exciting field."

Mr. Hansen started out as a patent litigator with Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles. After moving to another LA firm to develop his skills in patent preparation and prosecution, he eventually relocated to Michigan. Following a four year stint with a Detroit area IP boutique, Mr. Hansen founded Hansen IP Law in August 2009.

Hansen IP Law is pleased to announce that Steve Hansen was named as a Southern California "Super Lawyer" for 2013 by Super Lawyers Magazine. "I began my legal career in Los Angeles and continue to litigate patent cases through my affiliation with the Los Angeles office of Lee Tran Liang & Wang," said Mr. Hansen. "I am grateful for the honor of being named a Super Lawyer in Southern California."

Hansen IP Law is pleased to announce that Steve Hansen authored a chapter of an upcoming eBook entitled IP Law for Businesses: Protecting Yourself & Your Company for ExecSense, the world's largest publisher of professional webinars, eBooks, eDocuments, & Podcasts. The chapter is entitled "Developing and Maintaining a Patent Portfolio" and is now available as a stand-alone item on Amazon.com.

Hansen IP Law is proud to announce that Super Lawyers Magazine has again named Steve Hansen a "Rising Star" in Intellectual Property for the State of Michigan in 2012. "I am grateful to have received this recognition last year and this year and will continue to strive to provide the type of client-focused, strategic intellectual property representation that led to my nomination," said Mr. Hansen.

In its August 2012 issue, Business Valuation Update published "10 Key Patent Damages and Valuation Takeaways from Google v. Oracle" by Steve Hansen. This hotly contested case produced several rulings on methodologies for determining patent infringement damages, and the article explores some key lessons from those rulings.

In its May 2012 issue, IP Management & Valuation published "Strategies for Keeping Your Patent Applications on Track" by Steve Hansen. The article discusses how to improve the value of patent portfolios by implementing strategies to ensure that they remain aligned with changing business conditions and strategies. "Patent applications are prepared and filed at a point in time based on the state of development of products or business conditions," said Mr. Hansen. "As product development progresses or competitors make new moves in the marketplace, it is important to take a fresh look at your patent applications and, to the extent possible, make necessary changes or amendments. Such reviews may reveal that new patent applications are required," said Mr. Hansen.

On April 18, 2012 the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Litigation Newsletter published an article by Steve Hansen entitled "The Increased Scrutiny of Reasonable Royalty Damages Awards." The article examines the evolving and increasing standard of proof applied to reasonable royalty patent infringement damage awards by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and whether such standards may conflict with the statutory mandate that patent holders be awarded at least a reasonable royalty upon a finding of patent infringement.

On February 7, 2012, Hansen IP Law Owner Steve Hansen and Enoch Liang of Lee Tran & Liang presented "Protecting Your Footwear Designs—Design Patent and Trade Dress" to a group of footwear companies at the ENKWSA show in Las Vegas. "We were very pleased by the number of attendees as well as their insightful questions and level of engagement," said Mr. Hansen. "The unauthorized use of intellectual property is rampant in the footwear industry, and we explained how design patents and trade dress protection can be used to protect valuable shoe designs. Enoch and I are very grateful to have had this opportunity to share our experience with the ENKWSA attendees," said Mr. Hansen.

On January 26, 2012, Steve Hansen spoke to the IT Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan on "Strategies for Litigating Software Copyright Cases." This presentation described techniques for overcoming hurdles imposed by the legal standards for evaluating software copyright infringement. Mr. Hansen described some of the "expressive" aspects of software that are potentially protectable by copyright and how to use those aspects to build a non-infringement defense.