An attorney at Harness, Dickey & Pierce, PLC in Troy, Tyson Benson has been working as a patent attorney for nearly a decade. His intellectual property law practice is primarily devoted to the management, procurement, and protection of patent rights for Harness Dickey clients. He has assisted multiple startups, corporations, and universities in obtaining patent protection in a wide variety of new and emerging technologies. Additionally, Benson has assisted clients in managing their patent portfolios, performing due diligence investigations of intellectual property portfolios, evaluating the validity and enforceability of patents, and providing litigation support. He has obtained patents on technologies that have been featured in Popular Mechanics and SportTechie.
He also gives frequent presentations on topics that include patent prosecution, legal updates, and intellectual property basics for business owners and beginners.
Benson holds an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Iowa State University. He previously worked for Micron Technology as a DRAM product engineer prior to entering Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska, where he earned his J.D.
Benson and his family recently moved to Michigan from Omaha to be closer to his wife’s family.
By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Residence: Clinton Township
What would surprise people about your job? I have never been inside a courtroom in my career as an attorney.
Why did you become a lawyer? I became a patent lawyer because this profession allows me to spend my life with my two favorite subjects – engineering and law.
What’s your favorite law-related TV show, movie, and/or book? “Boston Legal”; “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”; and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Who are your law role models – real and/or fictional? Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and Tom Irving, a real world patent lawyer in Washington, D.C.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be? I would happily trade with Elon Musk when he is working at Tesla.
What advice do you have for someone considering law school? Get some real-life experience working in a legal-related field before entering law school.
What’s your proudest moment as a lawyer? Obtaining patent protection for a start-up’s core technology that allowed it to raise additional capital.
What do you do to relax? Read non-fiction, play with my kids, and exercise.
What other career path might you have chosen? Aerospace engineer.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self? Fail more – you learn more from your failures than your successes.
Favorite local hangouts: Blackfinn and Lifetime Fitness.
Favorite websites: Google, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Favorite app: Twitter.
Favorite music: Generally 80s.
What is your happiest childhood memory? Getting my first computer.
What is your most treasured material possession? I am a fan of big Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game that allows you to play against one or more opponents, and own some of the rare cards from the original sets.
What do you wish someone would invent? An Iron Man suit.
What has been your favorite year so far and why? 2011, the year I married my wife.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve ever been? The Henry Ford Museum.
If you could have one super power, what would it be? Even though I do not like heights, I would like to fly.
What’s one thing you would like to learn to do? Build a spacecraft.
What is something most people don’t know about you? Prior to law school, I was a driver/scheduler for a gubernatorial candidate in Iowa.
If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be? Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Abraham Lincoln.
What’s the best advice you ever received? If you are not progressing, you are regressing.
Favorite place to spend money: Micro Center and Amazon.
What is your motto? The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? Marrying my wife.
What is the most unusual thing you have done? I high-fived Steven Tyler during “Walk This Way” while I was wearing a very colorful Hawaiian shirt.
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