Erik Puknys, Partner at Finnegan

Today, my guest is Erik Puknys, a Partner at Finnegan who started his legal career at Finnegan’s Washington, D.C. office in 1994, and moved to California in 1997 to help open the firm’s Silicon Valley office. His career in intellectual property began more than 30 years ago when he joined the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office as a patent examiner after which he decided, against the advice of his lawyer-parents, to enter law school. Today, he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in district courts around the United States, in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Erik has worked for startups and Fortune 100 companies in a wide variety of technical fields, including software, telecommunications, computer hardware, semiconductors, medical diagnostics, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Erik is consistently recognized for his work as a leading patent litigator. He has been recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. for patent litigation, and as a leading patent litigator in California by Intellectual Asset Management. He was selected as one of the 75 Leading Intellectual Property Litigators in California by the Daily Journal. Erik was named in The 2015 BTI Client Service All-Stars for “superior client service.” Erik holds a JD from George Mason University and a B.Eng, M.Eng and M.Sci in Engineering and Materials Science from Vanderbilt University.