Michael Tappin obtained a first class degree in Chemistry at St. John's College, Oxford and a D.Phil. in Biochemistry at Merton College, Oxford. He was awarded a Queen Mother's Fund Scholarship by the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1991. In 2003 he was appointed Standing Counsel to the Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. The current issues of both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 place him in the top rank of juniors at the IP bar.

Michael has been involved in many of the significant chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech patent cases in the last few years, including Kirin-Amgen v. Roche Diagnostics (erythropoietin), AHP v. Novartis (rapamycin), Cairnstores v. Hässle (omeprazole), BASF v. SKB (paroxetine), Teva & ors v. Merck (alendronate), Cipla & ors v. Glaxo (Seretide®), Celltech v. MedImmune (Synagis®) and Ranbaxy v. Warner-Lambert (atorvastatin). He was also instructed in the Yeda v. RPR & ImClone entitlement dispute and in the recent Monsanto v. Cargill trial (GM soymeal).

Michael has also acted in numerous mechanical patent cases, including Unilin v. Berry (snap-together flooring), Univ. of Queensland v. Siemens (MRI magnets), Tamglass v. Luoyang (glass bending machines), Dendron v. Univ. of California (devices for treating brain aneurysms) and Cartonneries de Thulin v. CTP White Knight (CD boxes). He also represented the Comptroller on the appeal in Halliburton v. Smith (drill bit design).

Michael has represented the UK in several leading trade mark cases before the ECJ, including LTJ Diffusion (identity of marks), Davidoff v. Gofkid and Adidas v. Fitnessworld (Article 5(2)), Libertel (colour marks), Linde (shape marks), Erpo (slogan marks), Praktiker (retail services), Nestlé (acquired distinctiveness) and Dyson (concepts).

Michael also has considerable experience of anti-counterfeiting and parallel import work. For example, he acted for Microsoft against numerous dealers in counterfeit and parallel imported software and in Roche v. Kent (parallel imported diagnostic products).