Eric Smith | AIMF Vice President
Eric Smith is a retired attorney living in Carbondale, CO. He is active in that community, serving as a member of the Board of the Aspen International Mountain Foundation (AIMF) whose mission as the U.N Mountain Partnership’s regional representative is sustainable development in mountain environments and communities. He also serves as President of the Board of the Thunder River Theatre Company. From 1984 through 2011, he served as President and counsel of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a private sector coalition of seven trade associations, which represent over 1,900 companies producing and distributing materials protected by copyright laws throughout the world. Since co-founding the IIPA in 1984, he represented the IIPA before U.S. and foreign governments with the primary objective of opening foreign markets to U.S. copyrighted products and reducing piracy levels through improved legal protection and effective enforcement. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Smith was a shareholder in the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, where he specialized in global and domestic copyright, trade, trademark, entertainment and information law and policy advocacy. Prior to 1986, he practiced law with several private law firms and with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), where from 1980-82, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In 1986, Mr. Smith formed his own practice, specializing in international copyright matters, and then served as Managing Partner of Smith & Metalitz LLP (1996-2006) and Smith, Strong & Schlesinger LLP (2006-2007). A native of California, Mr. Smith holds a J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall, 1967) and received his B.A. degree with honors from Stanford University (1964). He also holds a M.A. degree from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University (1968), where he specialized in international law and economics. He is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia and California (inactive status).