Joseph A. Zito

Summary — Joseph A. Zito (Whitestone Law PLLC)

A note on identity: publicly available court and USPTO records identify Whitestone's patent litigator in the relevant matters as Joseph J. Zito (USPTO Reg. No. 32,076), so the summary below assumes the "Joseph A. Zito" profile refers to him; the middle-initial discrepancy could not be fully reconciled. He is a registered patent attorney and IP litigator whose tracked work centers on software-implemented automotive connectivity and vehicle-personalization patents. In AutoConnect Holdings LLC v. Toyota Motor Corp. (E.D. Tex., No. 2:24-cv-00802), he appears as Whitestone lead counsel for defendant Toyota against an NPE asserting roughly fourteen patents covering in-vehicle multimedia, CarPlay/Android Auto projection, digital-key, face-ID, and user-profile features. Related PTAB papers show parallel Toyota-initiated PGR2025-00041 and IPR2025-00890/891 challenges to the same AutoConnect patents.

Side preference and firm context. His only tracked appearance is on the defendant side, defending operating company Toyota against an NPE — but his broader record shows work on both sides of the docket. At Whitestone Law PLLC (Tysons, VA), court filings show him representing patent owners/plaintiffs (e.g., in Valjakka v. Netflix, N.D. Cal., and as patent owner's counsel in IPR2023-00029 before the PTAB). Filings from mid-2024 indicate he left Whitestone and was practicing from a Washington, D.C. firm styled "DNL Zito"; Martindale lists him as a member at "Zito tlp" (DC), and another directory profile identifies him as Of Counsel at Stein IP. Firm history beyond this is not reliably sourced.

Notable cases and outcomes. The flagship tracked matter is AutoConnect Holdings v. Toyota (E.D. Tex., filed Oct. 2024), where AutoConnect — reportedly linked to the Eric Spangenberg patent-monetization network — alleges willful infringement across Toyota/Lexus model years. Trade press (IP Fray) reports a magistrate judge recommended summary judgment that Toyota is licensed to the AutoConnect patents through a prior Spangenberg-era patent transfer, though the finality of that recommendation was not confirmed in my search. Separately, in Valjakka v. Netflix (N.D. Cal.), the court granted a motion disqualifying Whitestone Law and its attorneys — including Zito — from representing the plaintiff and a related third party based on a conflict of interest (March 2024); that order is public record.

PTAB and credentials. Zito has demonstrable PTAB experience, appearing as patent owner's counsel in IPR2023-00029 (Unified Patents v. Pedersen) and working alongside Toyota's PGR/IPR campaign in the AutoConnect dispute, though his own regular IPR docket could not be confirmed from available sources. Bar and education: Tulane Law School J.D. (1985); NC State B.S. in Economics/Physics (1982); admitted Maryland (1986), District of Columbia (1987), and the USPTO, with Federal Circuit admission (per Martindale and firm profiles).