James G. Gatto is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, working in the firm’s Northern Virginia office. He serves as the firm’s leader for intellectual property, is co-leader of the firm’s open source team and leads the virtual worlds and video games team.

Mr. Gatto advises clients worldwide on all aspects of IP strategy, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, open source and Internet law, as well as on the full range of IP issues, from identifying and developing strategies for protecting IP, preparing and filing patent and trademark applications and handling IP intensive transactions, to licensing and selling patents, rendering infringement and validity opinions and serving as a first-chair IP litigator. His areas of technical focus include video games, computer software, bioinformatics, personalized medicine, optics, semiconductors, telecommunications, financial services, business methods and Internet-related inventions, including virtual worlds, user generated content, and social networking technologies.

Mr. Gatto started in the patent field in 1984 as a patent examiner in the electro-optics area. He has had leading roles in a number of national and local patent-related legal and industry organizations.

Over the years, he has been recognized by his peers as a top lawyer in his field—he is ranked as “AV” from Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, the highest rating given to participating attorneys. Since 2005, he has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of America’s Leading Intellectual Property Lawyers in Northern Virginia. He was named a 2006 Virginia “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics and Richmond Magazine and, most recently, was included in the 2008 Washington DC Super Lawyers list, as well as in the 2007 and 2008 editions of Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in patent litigation and patent prosecution, the directory’s highest recognition available.

Mr. Gatto is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Court of Federal Claims. He is also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Mr. Gatto earned his B.E. in electrical engineering in 1984 from Manhattan College. In 1988, he earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

At the time of this presentation, Mr. Toering was a partner in the Intellectual Property practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.