Born in 1942 in Nemeskosút, Hungary, Zoltán Szabó graduated with M.Sc.Mech.Eng. at the Dresden Technical University, Germany, in 1966. After working for five years as a development engineer with Tungsram Co., Ltd., Budapest, he became engaged with industrial property in 1971 when he started working with Patentbureau Danubia. He was introduced to the art of patent attorneyship by the late patent attorney Ottó Somorjay, whom Zoltán always considered as his master. In 1974 he passed his patent attorney examination with flying colours, and then he became an in-house patent attorney with his former employer Tungsram Co., Ltd. In the meantime, Zoltán Szabó studied engineering economics at the Karl Marx University of Economics, Budapest. From 1982 he was a patent attorney in private practice with Patent & Law Office for International Affairs.

In 1990 Zoltán Szabó was one of the founding members of Gödölle, Kékes, Mészáros & Szabó Patent and Trademark Attorney. He was deputy managing partner at the firm for many years. From 2003 he was a European patent attorney, and from 2004 also a European Union trademark and design attorney. From 2006 until his death, he was a consultant to this firm.

In addition to his professional activity, Zoltán Szabó was engaged in the work of the Hungarian Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright (MIE) as Deputy General Secretary and Vice President, respectively. He was a member of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI) and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI). He served as a council member in the Hungarian Group of AIPPI. In the Hungarian Chamber of Patent Attorneys he was a member of the Presidency, then he was President from 2003 to 2005. He actively contributed to the organisation of the international AIPPI-MIE conferences held triannually in Budapest between 1970 and 2007.

Zoltán Szabó was given the Industrial Property Medal by MIE (1994), he was awarded the Jedlik Ányos Prize by the President of the Hungarian Patent Office (1997), and he was honoured with the Somlai Tibor Prize by the Hungarian Chamber of Patent Attorneys (2003).

Zoltán Szabó passed away in 2021 at the age of 79 years, due to Covid-19. He lived and will live in the hearts of those who knew him.