Donald A. Gregory is a partner with Merchant & Gould. He’s dedicated to helping clients inside technical industries protect their intellectual property. Based in Alexandria, he serves clients nationally and internationally in matters involving IP procurement, counseling, licensing and acquisition.
Providing Technical Industries With Trusted IP Protection
Donald has more than 40 years of experience advising companies on the development, procurement, use, management, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. His experience includes a wide range of technical industries and areas:
- Medical devices
- Automotive racing
- Industrial and machine tools
- Closures
- Fasteners
- Mining
- Materials processing
- Instrumentation
- Aerospace
- Software
- Nuclear energy
- Electric power generation and distribution
- Personal care products
Donald has successfully completed the filing and prosecution of hundreds of patent and trademark applications for clients in the US and across the globe. He has also developed a number of successful IP protection programs that made a significant difference in the future of his clients’ businesses.
Dedicated to Creating Successful Intellectual Property Strategies
Donald dedicates his time to developing strategies that help his clients protect their most critical intellectual property, thus protecting their market share for years to come. He has also represented clients in bringing their property to the market by negotiating with purchasers and licensees. Over the years, he has prepared and negotiated hundreds of agreements related to:
- Patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret licensing
- Product distribution
- Value-added reselling
- Joint development
- Consulting
- Sponsored research
Donald received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Virginia, as well as a J.D. from the College of William and Mary. He has listings in both IAM Patent and IAM Licensing, as well as Super Lawyers for Washington, DC.
When he’s not helping his clients protect their property, Donald enjoys spending time with his wife and grandchildren as well as visiting European cities and sunny beaches.
Previous In-House Experience
- As patent counsel for Philip Morris Incorporated (1981–1985), Donald managed mechanical and biotech patent matters, as well as consulting, university-sponsored research, and licensing matters.
- He was a patent attorney at McDermott Inc., with responsibility for the intellectual property program of the Nuclear Power Generation Division of The Babcock & Wilcox Company (1979–1981).
- He previously served as an engineer for The Babcock & Wilcox Company, where his work included performing nuclear and thermal hydraulic design of commercial nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel shipping casks and writing a computer code used for designing nuclear reactor control rods (1973–1976).
- In prior work for the University of Virginia, he wrote a computer code used for performing neutron activation analysis for identifying isotopes present in radioactive materials.