Former Patent Office Solicitor, Judge Joins Rothwell Figg

Feb. 8, 2008 (Posted by LexisNexis Tort Center Staff)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck P.C. announced that Dr. Nancy J. Linck joined the firm in an of counsel position on Feb. 4.

Linck was the solicitor and later an administrative patent judge at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), was deputy general counsel, IP & Trade, for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and was senior vice president, Intellectual Property and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance Counsel, for Guilford Pharmaceuticals.

The addition of Linck comes at a time of upcoming changes in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets. An estimated $29 billion worth of pharmaceutical patents are set to expire in the next two years, which will likely result in an increase in patent disputes as companies attempt to protect or extend their patents.

Before becoming solicitor at the USPTO, Linck was a partner at Cushman, Darby & Cushman. She also has corporate experience working both as a patent attorney for Monsanto and a chemist at Dow Chemical Co.

Other legal experience includes training as a mediator in the Federal Circuit's Pilot Mediation Program, serving as a consultant and expert witness in numerous patent cases in federal courts and in the FTC and teaching law at both the Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University School of Law.

Linck received her J.D. from Western New England College School of Law and her Ph.D. and M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. She also holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and expects to receive an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University later this year.

Her bar membership includes the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, District of Columbia, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Based in Washington Rothwell Figg is an intellectual property law firm specializing in litigation, counseling, copyright, licensing and transactions, patent prosecution, trade dress, trademarks, and unfair competition.