Steven M. Pappas

Steven M. Pappas is an associate in Sterne Kessler’s Electronics Practice Group. Steve’s practice focuses on IP litigation in federal district court, appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and post-grant proceedings before the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Steve has served as counsel in more than 70 PTAB post-grant proceedings (inter partes review, post-grant review, and covered business method review proceedings), representing both patent owners and petitioners. Steve is also a seasoned patent prosecutor, specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), software applications, database technologies, operating systems, computer graphics, computer networking and communication protocols, cryptography, and financial technologies.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Steve worked as a financial technology consultant, specializing in the implementation and customization of portfolio accounting systems for hedge funds and prime brokerage firms. He also worked as a software engineer, developing and monitoring internal automation tools to improve continuous integration processes.

During his graduate studies at Columbia University, Steve focused on practical software systems, including modern operating systems, database management systems, and web applications. Steve conducted his research on reliability of client-side code within web applications, in which he developed an open-source tool for web developers that provides feedback on common bugs associated with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code in order to ensure best practices are being employed. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, his M.S. in computer science from Columbia University, and his B.S.E. in computer science, cum laude, from the University of Michigan.