Zachary D. Smith
Phone: (434) 977-9666
Email: zsmith@zoblaw.com
Mr. Smith protects individuals and companies as an experienced trial and intellectual property attorney. His experience in obtaining and protecting a company’s brand extends to all areas of intellectual property law, including trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. He has done so for major retail and distribution companies, including Walmart and McMaster-Carr, famous movie brands such as The Lord of the Rings and The Wizard of Oz, larger chemical & bioscience companies, food and beverage business, entertainment and gaming companies, and small family-owned businesses such as the multi-generation maker of Italian racing bicycles.
Mr. Smith has represented clients in a broad range of other matters: trade secrets, communications, employment, real-estate, banking, white collar, election and campaign finance, and breach-of-contracts. His litigation experience includes all stages of litigation, including conducing settlement discussions, taking over a dozen depositions, examining and cross-examining key fact and expert witnesses in a three-week trial, and appealing unprecedented decisions.
Mr. Smith is one of the few practicing attorneys with experience using corpus linguistics, a cutting-edge legal tool that looks at large data sets of words to interpret legal documents, including statutes, regulations, contracts, trademarks, and patents. And his knowledge of statistics, survey research, and quantitative analysis has repeatedly given him an edge in defending his clients by providing objective support for the claims he brings. He makes the complex simple and understandable.
-
Prior to joining Zoblaw, Mr. Smith clerked for the Honorable Judge Robert T. Numbers, II of the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He then worked with the Complex Litigation group at ArentFox Schiff before switching to their award-winning Trademark and Intellectual Property Litigation groups.
During his time in D.C., Mr. Smith worked pro bono to prevent a single mother from being evicted, while securing much needed repairs for her home. He also defended the rights of religious minorities while working at the prestigious Becket Law. And he advised small business owners, pro bono, on how to protect their growing brands’ intellectual property.
Mr. Smith is also an avid ballroom dancer, Spartan obstacle runner, and sports fan.
-
Obtained several attorney fee awards against the defendant in an intellectual property dispute on behalf of a thriving scientific and environmental company, leading to a highly favorable settlement.
Protected the intellectual property rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Wizard of Oz movies.
Defended a Fortune 100 company in an employment matter against a former executive, after conducting a thorough internal investigation into the accusations that led to termination.
Advised multiple campaigns and a private university on federal campaign finance regulations and election law.
Performed an audit of the intellectual property of a leading scientific company to ensure protection of their previously unknown trade secrets.
Defended a family business against a massive Oracle audit request.
After a three-week trial, defeating nearly all the intellectual property claims against the defendant by its much larger competitor, including defeating all the claims seeking multi-million dollars in damages.
-
“Proving Trademark Genericness through Corpus Linguistics,” Annual Law & Corpus Linguistics Conference, 2023 & 2020
“When a social media influencer divorces with a bridal design company, who gets custody of the accounts?” 2022, https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/when-social-media-influencer-divorces-bridal-design-company-who-gets-custody-of-the-accounts
“Generic Ab Initio” 70 Buff. L. Rev. 613 (2022), https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/buffalolawreview/vol70/iss2/2
“Pending Congressional Bill Would Create Potential Liability For E-Commerce Sites Selling Certain Dangerous Counterfeits,” 2020, https://www.arentfox.com/perspectives/alerts/pending-congressional-bill-would-create-potential-liability-e-commerce-sites
“Packaging Alert: Do Your Research To Avoid Looking Like A Dum Dums,” 2019, https://www.arentfox.com/perspectives/alerts/packaging-alert-do-your-research-avoid-looking-dum-dums
“New York court issues decision in bottle dispute,” 2018, World Trademark Review, https://www.arentfox.com/perspectives/alerts/new-york-court-issues-decision-bottle-dispute
Education
BYU Law School, J.D., 2016, magna cum laude
Lead Symposium Editor, BYU Law Review
Brigham Young University, B.S., 2013, Political Science, magna cum laude
Groups
Chair-elect of J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Executive Secretary, Judicial Education Institute
Member, International Trademark Association
Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
Clerkship
Law Clerk, J. Robert T. Numbers, II, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 2016-17
Bar & Court Admissions
Virginia Bar
D.C. Bar
Arizona Bar (pending)
US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
US District Court Eastern District of Virginia
US District Court Western District of Michigan
US District Court District of Columbia
Supreme Court of Virginia
District of Columbia Court of Appeals