Zachary Krenz is an attorney at Merchant and Gould’s Minneapolis office. His practice focuses on preparing and prosecuting patents for clients in the fields of electrical engineering, software and mechanical products, and assisting the litigation teams in patent-related matters.
From Computer Science to Patent Law
Zachary earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering. During college, he interned at tech companies and developed his skills in software development, web engineering and cloud computing.
After college, Zachary joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in rural Liberia, where he taught math, science and literacy to middle school and high school students. Here, Zachary honed the collaborative and educative skills that would play a role in his future legal career.
When he completed his Peace Corps service, Zachary decided to pursue law school at the University of Minnesota. He discovered the exciting world of patent law and the opportunity to combine his scientific and technological background with his passion for language and legal services.
Zachary earned his Juris Doctor and graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif before joining the team at Merchant and Gould. During law school, he was also an editor of the Minnesota Law Review.
Dedicated to Business-Minded Patent Strategies
Combining his analytical skills and in-depth knowledge of technology, Zachary focuses on creating patent strategies that align with an organization’s broader business goals. His ultimate focus is to find favorable solutions for clients that address each aspect of their unique situation.
With long-term objectives in mind, Zachary delves deeply into understanding each facet of a client’s innovation. From interviews with inventors to conducting comprehensive legal research, Zachary helps translate the ideas of innovators into patents that are useful for their businesses.
Zachary also measures these inventions against existing and prior art to determine how to clarify ideas while also exploring the potential for broader coverage. This allows him to help clients overcome the challenges of already-existing prior art while working to obtain optimal patent protection.
Accomplished at Conducting Thorough Research & Analysis
Zachary’s technological, strategic and service-oriented background has helped hone his scrupulous research, legal and writing skills. Prior to working at Merchant and Gould, Zachary worked as a judicial extern at the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. Among other things, he researched case law and statutes, and drafted bench memoranda.
He also worked as a law clerk before becoming an attorney, drafting numerous patent applications, responding to USPTO office actions, conducting inventor interviews, and doing prior art searches.
Combined with his other educational and professional experience, Zachary is highly skilled at gathering, examining and understanding complex information. From asking the right questions to identifying key components of an innovation, he’s able to diligently analyze details before synthesizing them into a comprehensive legal strategy.
Zachary loves the intellectual stimulation that each client’s invention brings to the table. In addition to the industries he currently assists, he has a growing interest in patents for machine learning and biomedical technology. In his spare time, Zachary enjoys reading, running, playing board games and spending time with loved ones.