Bridget Smith, Esq.
Bridget Smith is a registered patent attorney specializing in trials before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, district court litigation, and federal appeals. I have been named one of the Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials by the PTAB Bar Association.
I have a master’s degree in engineering, focusing on next-generation semiconductors. My first job was as an engineer at a Motorola semiconductor factory. Always wanting to “do it better,” I wrote the software for a process-control ecosystem that saved Motorola millions annually. When I moved to my next challenge as a data scientist for a business software start-up later acquired by SAP, I applied my software design skills to optimize pricing data for Fortune 500 clients and provide software services crucial to $23 million in contracts.
Fascinated by the impact that IP has for tech companies, my path led me to law school. Today, I make challenging technology accessible to investors, patent examiners, judges, and juries.
Before joining Lowenstein & Weatherwax, I was a partner at Knobbe Martens and co-chair of the firm’s Patent Office Trials Practice Group. I have successfully represented both patent owners and challengers in over 140 Patent Office trials and subsequent appeals before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Justice Neil Gorsuch cited my amicus work on behalf of an inventors’ group in a United States Supreme Court case addressing the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. And I led an appellate team that secured a landmark precedential decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on an issue involving personal jurisdiction over foreign entities.
I currently chair the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law’s Patent System Planning Committee, co-chair the Orange County chapter of ChIPs (an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing women in intellectual property), and co-chair a drafting team of the Sedona Conference Working Group on patent litigation best practices. I also speak and write frequently on trending issues in intellectual property law. As an experienced software engineer and registered patent attorney with substantial experience challenging and defending patents before the PTAB and in district court, I am also uniquely positioned to counsel clients on portfolio strategy. I work in several technical areas, including semiconductors, computer hardware and software, and business methods. I have specific experience in blockchain, smart contracts, distributed ledgers, cryptocurrencies, dApps, and web3. My clients have ranged from international conglomerates, to Fortune 1000 manufacturers, to pre-IPO startups.
I have a J.D., cum laude, from Arizona State University College of Law, and a M.S. and B.S.E., magna cum laude, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering. Outside of work, I serve my community on the Board of Directors for the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation.