EDUCATION
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D. (1981)
Youngstown State University, B.S.E.E. (1977)
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
After graduating from engineering school at Youngstown State University, Tom Peterson worked for three years as an electronics engineer at the Packard Electric Division of General Motors Corporation. The experiences gained as a working engineer made him well suited for a legal career advising clients on technology issues, especially patent protection and technology licensing.
After graduating from law school, Tom worked for a year at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner before entering private practice. He has been in private practice for more than 30 years and counsels clients in a wide range of intellectual property law matters. He has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Toshiba Corporation, Scientific-Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific, Nike and Bell Atlantic (now Verizon). He has successfully prepared and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications before the U.S. and foreign patent offices, been engaged in numerous contested proceedings involving intellectual property matters and has assisted clients in negotiating and concluding many technology transfer agreements.
In addition to practicing law, Tom has been an active participant in teaching and lecturing on IP law issues. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at The Howard University School of Law and at The George Mason University School of Law. He also teaches business law courses as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. He has given numerous talks and has participated in many panel discussions before law and business groups related to various areas of intellectual property law.
Tom is the author of numerous articles and has presented many speeches on various aspects of intellectual property law. He has a particular interest and expertise in helping minority businesses exploit their IP assets. He also has particular expertise in intellectual property law in developing countries and has been a Guest Lecturer at the Nigerian National Law School in Lagos, Nigeria.