Donald J. Featherstone is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group and chairs the firm’s Foreign Filing Committee. Prior to that, Don chaired the Recruiting Committee, and served as the Practice Group Leader for the firm’s Electronics Practice Group. In addition, he leads the firm’s nanotechnology industry team. Prior to joining the firm in 1988, Don examined patent applications in the field of semiconductor devices at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Don specializes in patent preparation and prosecution counseling for a wide range of entities from start-ups and emerging growth companies to large multi-national corporations. He emphasizes the interaction between intellectual property and sound business practices to help his clients leverage their IP and create shareholder value.
In addition to strategic patent portfolio creation and management, Don has PTO litigation and reexamination experience. He has extensive experience preparing patentability opinions, state-of-the art opinions, infringement opinions, and validity opinions. He has assisted many clients with IP licenses, IP audits, and due diligence investigations.
Don has experience in the following technical fields: cleantech (wind and water energy conversion); computer architecture (including RISC microprocessors); computer memory systems; computer graphics; control systems; digital signal and image processing; discrete digital and analog circuits; electromagnetics; fiber optics; graphical user interfaces; mechatronics; MEMS; nanotechnology (nanowires, quantum dots, etc.); photolithography (scanners, EUV light sources, computational, holistic, and immersion lithography, and metrology); piezoelectric devices; semiconductor devices and manufacturing; ultra-wideband communications and radar; various business methods/e-commerce/Internet related applications; and additive manufacturing.
Don is co-Editor-in-Chief of Nanotechnology Law and Business. Additionally, he is a contributing author of Patent Office Litigation, Second Edition, published in 2017 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw. The book provides a fresh and comprehensive exploration of patent office litigation proceedings, including how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, while delivering practical analysis and advice.
Don earned his J.D. from George Mason University School of Law and his B.S. in electrical engineering from Lafayette College.
- IAM Patent 1000, “Washington, DC: Recommended – Patent Prosecution” (2023 – 2014)
- J.D., Intellectual Property Law Specialty Track, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, Lafayette College
- District of Columbia
- United States Patent & Trademark Office
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers