- Home
- All Attorneys
- Bradford R. Czerwonky
Bradford R. Czerwonky
Counsel / AtlantaBradford R. Czerwonky is Counsel in the Intellectual Property Practice at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.
-
Full Bio
Brad Czerwonky is an engineer turned patent attorney who serves inventors, manufacturers, and international businesses by combining deep, hands-on experience with patent prosecution and IP strategy work. He has drafted and/or prosecuted hundreds of U.S. and foreign patent applications across a wide range of mechanical, physics, and other science technologies, and he regularly advises clients on portfolio strategy, design-arounds, and global IP protection. Brad brings practical, business-aligned IP counseling to clients ranging from individual inventors to multinational manufacturers throughout the U.S. and Japan.
Brad, an inventor on four U.S. patents, applies over fifteen years of new product development experience and more than a dozen years of patent law practice to help clients protect innovative products and technologies. In addition to securing U.S. patents on utilitarian inventions, Brad is especially familiar with design rights and foreign work, with deep experience in PCT national-stage filings and in securing foreign patents and design registrations in collaboration with local counsel around the world. He prepares patentability, infringement, and design‑around opinions and advises clients on domestic and international IP strategy.
International engagement is a core part of Brad’s practice. He travels to Japan regularly, has delivered numerous presentations in English and/or Japanese on U.S. patent law (including at the Japan Patent Office), and actively participates in U.S.–Japan legal and business forums. In addition to his client work, he produces extensive educational materials for both clients and colleagues on patent practice and strategy.
Brad has also supported and coordinated trademark, copyright, trade secret, regulatory, and litigation matters. He has handled technologies across consumer, medical, transportation, aerospace, industrial manufacturing, energy, and other mechanical and physics‑based industries. Early in his career, Brad designed airframe repairs for Delta Air Lines and researched and developed new products as an Engineer in Japan and the U.S. for a multinational appliance manufacturer.
Outside of law, Brad is a woodworker, a designer, a fan of all things ukulele, and an Eagle scout. He enjoys spending time with family, volunteering, traveling, and learning.
-
Representative Experience
- Drafted and prosecuted hundreds of U.S. utility and design patent applications.
- Managed an IP docket including U.S. and foreign prosecution, continuations, divisionals, PCT applications, and national‑stage filings.
- Advised clients on IP strategy, patentability, infringement, design‑around solutions, and global portfolio development.
- Coordinated and supported patent infringement litigation culminating in a full International Trade Commission victory protecting flagship products for his client.
- Discovered documents in a trade secret case and singlehandedly located two pieces of case-ending info.
-
Bar Admissions
Georgia
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office -
Education
Undergraduate- Georgia Institute of Technology
Law School- Georgia State University College of Law
-
Languages
Japanese -
Memberships
Georgia PATENTS Pro-Bono Inventor Assistance Program of the Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, Volunteer
Japan-America Society of Georgia (JASG)
Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia (JCCG)
U.S. Bar – Japan Patent Office Liaison Council
Home Park Community Improvement Association, Board Member
-
Recognitions
IP Team Wins First at International Patent Drafting Competition - https://news.gsu.edu/2018/04/05/team-wins-first-at-international-patent-drafting-competition/
Student and Alumnus Help Inventor Through Georgia PATENTS Program - https://news.gsu.edu/2016/07/28/student-alumnus-help-inventor-georgia-patents-program/
-
Publications and Speaking Engagements
Presenter, Intellectual Property and Woodworking, International Woodworking Fair Connect 2020
Presenter, “After-Final Options” remote webinar to law firm in Osaka, Japan, May 19, 2021
Presenter, “Business Use of IP in the U.S.”, Remote Meeting of SPIN Gathering, Fukuoka, Japan (given in Japanese), March 26, 2022
Speaker, Intellectual Property and Patents; Assisted in a talk on Intellectual Property Litigation, International Woodworking Fair 2022, August 2022
Speaker “IP and Other Legal Considerations”, Client Engineering Team, June 2023
Speaker, Spoke on Federal Circuit Decision in LKQ v. GM on Design Patent Obviousness, U.S. Bar – Japan Patent Office Liaison Council Meeting at JPO, Tokyo, Japan, December 2024
Speaker, “IP 101 Patents”, Client Engineering Team, May 14, 2025
-
SGR Publications
-
Press