People

Stephanie Kato
Stephanie C. Kato
Senior Associate

Overview

Stephanie Kato's legal practice encompasses a range of intellectual property matters, with a focus on patent litigation, patent prosecution, and worldwide portfolio counseling.

Stephanie uses her engineering background and intellectual property experience to counsel clients on strategic patent portfolios and technology development through preparation and prosecution of patent applications, as well as acquisition assessments, due diligence analysis, and freedom-to-operate opinions. She has also assisted multinational corporations with patent disputes before U.S. federal district courts, the International Trade Commission, and post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Stephanie has experience working with clients in a variety of technology fields including autonomous vehicles, circuit design, control systems, digital security and cryptography, electronics and telecommunications, medical devices, robotics, and software development. She is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional in United States privacy law (CIPP/US).

Stephanie is actively involved in the firm's pro bono practice advocating on behalf of survivors of gender-based violence for Her Justice. She also dedicates her time volunteering with Asian American groups in the community.

Prior to her legal career, Stephanie was a graduate researcher at Stanford University, where she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to research obstacle detection controllers and vision systems for autonomous vehicles. She is an alumna of the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Columbia Law School.

Admissions & Affiliations

  • New York State Bar
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • J.D., Columbia Law School 2018
    Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
    Columbia Science and Technology Law Review
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University 2014
    National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology 2012
    with honors

Experience

  • Counseled a multinational packaging company in patent prosecution, portfolio management, due diligence, strategic counseling, freedom to operate and product clearance matters
  • Counseled a global medical device company in patent prosecution, due diligence, freedom to operate and product clearance matters
  • Represented a national ride-sharing service provider in multiple U.S. federal district court litigation and Inter Partes Review matters
  • Represented a Japanese multinational conglomerate and manufacturer of automobiles in U.S. federal district court litigation
  • Represented a global electronics and telecommunications company in International Trade Commission litigation
  • Represented a Japanese multinational conglomerate operating in the area of photographic films in U.S. federal district court litigation
  • Represented an international battery manufacturer in multiple U.S. federal district court litigation and Inter Partes Review cases
  • Represented a multinational electronics company in an Inter Partes Review case
  • Represented a multinational digital imaging and photography company in an Inter Partes Review case
  • Counseled a leading research university in patent prosecution and counseling matters
  • Counseled a medical start-up company in patent prosecution and counseling matters
  • Represented an international nanopore sequencing company in U.S. federal district court litigation