John Fargo

Mr. Fargo is a 1972 graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering cum laude, and was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Fraternity. After graduating, he attended law school at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Mr. Fargo was a member of the Buffalo Law Review and graduated magna cum laude in 1976. Following graduation, he joined the Department of Justice as a trial attorney with the Civil Division through the prestigious Attorney General's Honors Program. In 1984, he was appointed to be an Assistant Director of the Intellectual Property Staff. The IP Staff is responsible for litigating all civil patent, copyright and trademark cases involving the government, as well as providing advice on IP matters to various agencies throughout the Executive Branch. From January 2004 to his retirement in January 2017, Mr. Fargo served as the Director of the Intellectual Property Staff, within the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division, and has been responsible for the management of its current staff of attorneys and support personnel. In his career at the Department of Justice, Mr. Fargo has handled a number of notable patent and copyright cases, including Leesona Corp. v. United States, 599 F.2d 958 (Ct. Cl. 1979)(nature of recovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1498); Decca, Ltd. v. United States, 640 F.2d 1156 (Ct. Cl. 1981)(same); UMC Electronics v. United States, 816 F.2d 647 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (on-sale bar); and United States v. Telectronics, Inc., 857 F.2d 778 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (first suit for infringement of a government-owned patent). In addition, he participated in the drafting of several merits briefs that the Solicitor General has filed as an amicus curiae in intellectual property cases before the Supreme Court, including KSR, Festo, Dastar, Grokster and Mayo Labs. Since his retirement, Mr. Fargo has been actively involved in the D.C. Bar's Small Business and Non-profit pro bono program, and also assists other attorneys in district court IP litigation. In addition, he is a mediator in the U.S.I.T.C.'s ADR program.