Frank Pietrantonio is partner in charge of Cooley's Reston office and the former chair of the Firm's Intellectual Property practice. He joined the Firm in 2000 and is a member of the Litigation department.
Mr. Pietrantonio's practice focuses on counseling clients on patent law issues in a wide range of technologies, including VoIP, graphics processing, semiconductor device design, network security, digital signal processing and telecommunications systems and services. He has extensive experience in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications in these areas. In addition, his experience includes the analysis of issued patents in the area of computer-related inventions, as well as business method and telecommunications inventions. Mr. Pietrantonio also has extensive experience litigating patent cases in federal courts throughout the United States.
Mr. Pietrantonio has assisted numerous emerging technology companies develop strategies for protecting critical IP assets in the telecommunications and software arts. He has also engaged in litigation and counseling matters concerning a diverse array of hardware and software technologies. For example, Mr. Pietrantonio represented AT&T in a patent assertion against Microsoft that involved complex digital processing technologies. He has also provided guidance to clients introducing new products and services as to any potential for infringement of the valid patent rights of others.
Since 2006, Mr. Pietrantonio has been recognized as one of the top patent practitioners in the United States by Chambers USA, particularly noted for his "strong counseling practice" on behalf of clients in the semiconductor, digital media and telecommunications industries.
Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Pietrantonio's practice focused on patent prosecution and litigation with an emphasis on consumer electronics, semiconductor products and processing, telecommunications, optical communication systems, wireless systems, networking applications, and computer hardware and software.
In 1985, Mr. Pietrantonio received a JD, with honors, from The George Washington University Law School. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Pietrantonio worked as an engineer for AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories. He received a MS in Electrical Engineering (with a focus on telecommunications) from Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1982. In 1980, he received a BE in Electrical Engineering, summa cum laude, from Manhattan College.
Mr. Pietrantonio is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
