Wisconsin Supreme Court slaps Florida patent lawyer with 3-year suspension

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has slapped a Florida patent lawyer with a three-year law license suspension as reciprocal discipline for previous misconduct.

Michael Starkweather, founder of ClearStar IP in Tampa, Fla., provides patent and trademark services to clients. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suspended his license in October 2019 for failing to provide competent representation to the inventors he took on as clients.

USPTO imposed a 36-month suspension, and the Office of Lawyer Regulation asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court for reciprocal discipline.

The OLR said Starkweather never told its office about his suspension. He also never filed a response to the OLR’s claim, according to the state Supreme Court’s opinion released on Friday.

The high court agreed a 36-month suspension of Starkweather’s Wisconsin law license was appropriate reciprocal punishment. The justices also ordered Starkweather to comply with the terms and conditions of the USPTO order, which include a two-year period of probation.

Starkweather was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 1988. His previous disciplinary history consists of a public reprimanded from 2012 for appearing in a federal bankruptcy court in Utah without being admitted to practice in Utah courts.

His Wisconsin law license has been administratively suspended since October 2019 for failing to pay his bar dues and file a trust-account certification. State Bar of Wisconsin records list his license status as “resignation pending.”

Friday’s opinion said Starkweather’s pending petition to resign his Wisconsin law license will be addressed in a separate order.

Starkweather did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Follow @“WLJreporter”