In over thirty years of practice, Ernest Linek has successfully prosecuted hundreds of U.S. and international patent applications in fields including natural product chemistry, polymer chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, electroplating, semiconductors, and photoreceptors. Non-chemical utility patents and design patents obtained by Mr. Linek have included household storage containers, police safety equipment, toys, games and sporting goods.

In addition to his patent practice, Mr. Linek’s trademark practice has resulted in his assisting clients in the selection and registration of hundreds of new trademarks and service marks, both in the United States and abroad, including Community Trademark and Madrid Protocol filings. He is also very active in providing client counseling and opinions regarding the validity and infringement of patents and trademarks.

Mr. Linek has extensive litigation experience and has successfully protected his client’s interests in numerous Federal District Courts and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Specific areas of litigation have included trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, design patent infringement and utility patent infringement actions.

Mr. Linek also provides his clients with counseling and legal opinions regarding issues of validity and infringement of both patents and trademarks. On multiple occasions, Mr. Linek has served as a patent expert in litigation.

Mr. Linek also devotes time to the education of future lawyers, and he has been a guest lecturer at Franklin Pierce Law School in Concord, New Hampshire and at Northeastern Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Mr. Linek earned his B.S. degree in Chemistry (with a minor in computer science) in 1975 from the State University of New York, College at Fredonia, and his M.S. in Organic Chemistry in 1977 from the University of New Hampshire. He earned a J.D. degree in 1982 from Seton Hall University. From 1977 to 1984, Mr. Linek was employed by the multi-national pharmaceutical company – Merck & Co., first as a research chemist, then as a patent agent and finally as a patent attorney.

He is admitted to practice in the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as the Federal District Courts thereof. In addition, Mr. Linek is admitted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits. He is also active in numerous professional organizations, including the New York Academy of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Boston Patent Law Association.

Mr. Linek has been recognized in the New England and Massachusetts Super Lawyers lists, published by Thomson Reuters, from 2004 to 2016. The listings were published in Boston Magazine and in the legal publication, New England Super Lawyers. He is AV Peer Review Rated by the LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Ratings.

Mr. Linek practices in the Boston office of Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.