John F. Zabriskie, partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, is a member of the firm's General Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation Practices. He has 25 years' experience litigating trade secrets, software, and complex commercial matters. He has tried cases, both to juries and the bench, in federal and state courts around the country. He has been identified by The Legal 500 US as a leading trade secrets lawyer.

Mr. Zabriskie has represented clients in matters involving virtually all aspects of computer software. Representative software matters include:

• In representation of a major software company in a case involving alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and copyright infringement of source code, obtained injunction prohibiting further development or sale of competitor's product
• In a nine-week federal court jury trial, defended principal officer of a software company against allegations of fraud and breach of a software re-engineering contract
• Representation of vendor in a case alleging failure of a large software implementation project
• Represented developer of software in a "clean room" environment against claims of reverse-engineering
• Representation of parties in connection with software performance warranties
• Representation of software company in federal court insurance coverage trial arising from settlement of underlying trademark infringement suit
• Representation of software company against alleged domain name cybersquatter

In his complex commercial litigation practice, Mr. Zabriskie has been the principal attorney in numerous cases involving breach of contract, fraud, and other business torts. For example, in Glass v. Kemper Corp., 133 F.3d 999 (7th Cir.), he defended an investment company and three senior executives against breach of contract and fraud claims. In addition, Mr. Zabriskie has successfully defended fiduciaries, including money managers and trustees, against claims of imprudent investing. In one case, the federal district judge granted Mr. Zabriskie's client a directed verdict, Wsol v. FMA (N.D. Ill.), which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed, 266 F.3d 654 (7th Cir.). In Outzen v. FDIC, 948 F.2d 1184 (10th Cir.), Mr. Zabriskie successfully defended the Federal Deposit Insurance Company as receiver of a failed Wyoming bank in an action by the bank's former employees to recover the surplus assets of the bank's overfunded pension plan. Mr. Zabriskie also represents plan sponsors and administrators in connection with benefits claims.

Mr. Zabriskie received his law and undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan (J.D., cum laude, 1984; B.A., high honors, 1981).

Mr. Zabriskie is admitted to the bar in Illinois, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Tenth Circuits. He is a member of the Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Publications and Presentations:

• "Squatters, Tweets, Spies & Critics - Strategies for Battling Current and Emerging Cyber-Threats to Your IP," Foley & Lardner LLP Web Conference, September 23, 2009
• "Bots, Scrapers, and Other Unwanted Visitors to Your Web Site: Can You Keep Them Out?, The Computer & Internet Lawyer, Vol 26, No. 7, July 2009
• "Busting the Legal Myths Endangering Your Development Project: The Law of Software Development," Chicago Software Process Improvement Network Meeting, April 2, 2008
• "Lexmark v. Static Control: An Update on Copyrights and Competition," IP360, May 2007