John I. Stewart, Jr. is a partner in the firm's Washington, DC, office, where he has practiced Communications, Copyright, and Technology law since 1975. John heads the Firm's Technology, Media, and Telecommunications sector of the Intellectual Property Group. His current practice encompasses intellectual property, Internet, and telecommunications matters. An early participant in the developing law of e-commerce (having represented emerging online businesses, B2B exchanges, and a variety of companies and organizations expanding into Internet operations in the 1990s), he continues to counsel clients on law and technology issues. His work has included negotiating technology partnerships and licenses, advising on global privacy law compliance, negotiating online content and software development agreements, negotiating IT agreements, building open source licensing programs, and counseling on Website liability issues. John is also a member of the firm’s privacy group, which has assisted a large number of companies in the adoption and implementation of regional and global compliance programs, designed to achieve and maintain compliance with applicable data protection laws.

John has special expertise in the application of intellectual property laws in regulated industries, including the communications and technology sectors. He has for many years helped radio and television stations and groups, industry trade associations, equipment manufacturers, Internet service providers, print and electronic publishers, and telephone companies resolve both commercial and regulatory problems at the intersection of IP law and regulatory policy. He has pursued copyright, trademark, and domain name disputes, and has successfully represented all U.S. television broadcasters in recent cable and satellite copyright royalty proceedings.

John is a frequent speaker on intellectual property issues. He is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, and of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the DC, Second, and Third Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and the District of Maryland. John is a member of the Section of Intellectual Property Law of the American Bar Association, the Intellectual Property Section of the DC Bar, and the Federal Communications Bar Association. He has been recognized by The Best Lawyers In America 2008 in the area of technology law.

At the University of Chicago Law School, John was Topics and Comment Editor of the Law Review, and won the Wall Street Journal Award in 1974. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. with distinction in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. His undergraduate honors include a Short Story Prize in the Hollins Critic Literary contest. He and his wife, a Clinical Psychologist, live in Chevy Chase, Maryland.