Rodgers Lunsford is Of Counsel in the Intellectual Property Practice of Smith Gambrell Russell LLP.
Mr. Lunsford has specific expertise litigating intellectual property disputes, and, in the present economy, he focuses on achieving favorable non-judicial dispute resolutions and successful conflict avoidance. He also serves effectively as an ADR neutral, directs trademark enforcement programs, counsels clients concerning intellectual property matters, prosecutes applications to register intellectual property, and transfers intellectual property rights and technology.
He was named Atlanta’s Trademark Law “Lawyer of the Year” for 2016 by The Best Lawyers in America, the leading peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners, and Chambers USA has recognized him as “one of the trademark aristocracy within the Atlanta legal market.” He has been named one of The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals by World Trademark Review, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® and Georgia Trend Legal Elite, and has been selected for inclusion in Georgia Super Lawyers from 2004 through the present.
Three of Mr. Lunsford’s cases have received attention in national publications: (i) Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. Showcase Atlanta Coop. Products, Inc., 479 F. Supp. 351 (N.D. Ga. 1979)(copyright infringement of the novel and film Gone With The Wind, (ii) Schmidt v. Quigg, 609 F. Supp. 227 (E.D. Mich. 1985), rev’g In re Schmidt, 222 U.S.P.Q. 643 (T.T.A.B. 1984) (registrability of the mark Honey Baked Ham) and (iii) Schmidt v. Honeysweet Hams, Inc., 656 F. Supp. 92 (N.D. Ga. 1986 (infringement of the Honey Baked Ham mark). Additionally, in Syntex (U.S.A.), Inc. v. Apotex, Inc. N.D. Ga. 1994), Mr. Lunsford was one of the first attorneys in the United States to successfully rely on the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as the basis for obtaining a preliminary injunction precluding defendants from competing unfairly by making false representations in violation of the Act.
Mr. Lunsford has served as a member of the editorial board of the Trademark Reporter for the International Trademark Association. He is a past Chairman of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of Georgia and a past president of Buckhead Baseball, Inc. and the Atlanta Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club. Mr. Lunsford is a former member of the Shorter College Board of Visitors and the Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church Service Council. He is a member of the Atlanta Kiwanis Club, was its former parliamentarian, and a former member of its Board of Directors. He is a former Chair of the Firm’s Intellectual Property Department.
Mr. Lunsford graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the board of editors for the Georgia Law Review. His honorary memberships include Phi Kappa Phi.
American Intellectual Property Law Association