To this end, patent attorneys must carefully prepare documentary records, prepare their witnesses for testimony, and obtain critical confessions from witnesses hostile to the opposing party. These lawyers must then transform that evidence and the law into effective written and oral argument in the same way as any other lawyer. I went to a meeting for IPLSA a few weeks ago and the first thing they asked us was, „Do you have a solid scientific background?” In-house lawyer with a significant intellectual property workload and a „soft” scientific background. I`ve moved more to the contract side, but I still think I have a pretty good idea of the field. It is quite difficult to become a patent attorney, but it is not impossible. You need to be someone who can sit for hours studying and preparing for your exams. You need to be able to go through a large amount of teaching material and summarize it in a way that you remember your legal exams. Just because you don`t have a solid scientific background doesn`t mean you`re limited to copyrights and trademarks. They can still litigate patent issues, draft licensing and technology transfer agreements, and work on patent policy. Even law firms that don`t welcome you, unless you have the technical background and the Chamber of Patent Attorneys, can still have vacancies for a government affairs team so you can work on the political side. But if you`re still setting your sights on a large law firm that handles patent litigation, there are practitioners out there who want a B.A/J.D.

Just look at the biographies on the firm`s websites to get an idea of which law firms are open to those without technical training. You can take the FE exam for patent attorney qualifications. You must take it in a state that allows you to take the FE exam without a diploma. NH is one of them. Patent cases can also be useful tools for young lawyers, especially to improve their advocacy skills. Because of their high stakes, patent litigation can impact many contentious technical and non-technical issues. In addition, many federal district courts with high patent content have established formal practices to encourage the material participation of junior lawyers. On the other hand, I know that the patent attorneys at Harvard Medical School had a degree in history. So, who knows? These eligibility requirements have (rightly) been criticized as outdated and tend to exclude women and minorities from the practice of patent law.

Now, with the support of members of Congress to change these criteria, the PTO has expressed its willingness to expand its pool of patent practitioners. While I suggest doing internships and clinics and taking courses in areas that interest you, I have never taken patents, although my very first job in the IP field was focused on patent policy. I ended up in this position because of my interest in access to medicines, which is closely linked to patent policy, because monopolies on patented medicines allow companies to advertise life-saving medicines beyond the reach of developing countries as well as many United States. At first, I would have liked to study patent law during law school, but over time, you become interested in it, as with any other subject. I bought introductory patent manuals, read well-known blogs from patent law professors, read article after article, and talked to many practitioners to find what I needed. There is no doubt that patent law or a solid scientific background would have been useful, but you can survive without it. Although I have litigated patents, the majority of my intellectual property practice consists of trademark, trade secret, copyright and domain name litigation. Most of my cases have little or nothing to do with hard science.

I appeared regularly before the Trade-marks Trial and Appeal Board, the English major and so on. And I`m not alone. If you have a busy schedule, you may be wondering if you can work as a patent attorney from home. The short answer is yes, patent attorneys can work from home. Patent attorneys spend a lot of time drafting and preparing patent applications, this is certainly something a patent attorney can do from home. In addition, patent attorneys can respond to communications from the patent office from the comfort of their own homes. These non-technical issues can indeed be among the most important disputes in a patent case. Given the risk of damages judgments, for example, issues of damages in patent cases can be hotly contested. And these disputes ultimately revolve around the sophisticated economic analysis of dueling experts – much like damages litigation in other complex business cases such as antitrust or securities cases. Of course, earning a law degree is a prerequisite for becoming a lawyer, regardless of the area of expertise. But what about your undergraduate studies? To be a patent attorney working to obtain patents for inventors, students with a bachelor`s degree in science or engineering will be well served. However, this is not necessary for other types of intellectual property rights (including intellectual property litigation or entertainment, sports, copyright or trademark law).

Common undergraduate majors among non-patented intellectual property law students include history, political science, sports or business administration, English, art history, and economics. If you are a company or an inventor, it is important to know the different types of patents to ensure the right kind of intellectual property protection for your idea or invention. The United States. Patent cases also require the same effective legal skills already present in a generalist`s toolbox. Developing a coherent, believable and compelling story for judges and jurors wins patent cases like everyone else. And even in the absence of formal practice, other judges with patent-heavy waybills are willing to hold more hearings to give inexperienced lawyers the opportunity to argue in court. Regardless of their background, young lawyers who wish to improve their advocacy skills may consider resorting to patent litigation for this additional reason. At this point, you should have a good idea of what kind of experience you should have representing clients before the patent office. Generally, patent attorneys have a strong background in science and engineering. Then, a person must attend and graduate from law school.

Once a person has graduated from law school, they must pass the patent registration examination to represent clients before the patent office. If you don`t have a science degree, you may still be able to become a patent attorney by taking science courses. If you have any general questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section below. A side effect of a career in intellectual property law is potential exposure to exciting new developments in science, technology and other cutting-edge disciplines. For the curious, working on intellectual property can be particularly compelling. Developments in nanotechnology, autonomous vehicles, biotechnology, space exploration, drone technology, and many other groundbreaking fields involve intellectual property. Intellectual property lawyers can be at the forefront of fascinating technological advances or work with global brands, film studios, music companies, athletes or celebrities. Political work—where you meet with federal agencies and administrators, talk to members of Congress or (more likely) their staff, or work on public campaigns—doesn`t require hard science knowledge. Politics is usually big picture and very results-oriented, and unlike reading patent specifications, where you actually need to know how something works or what someone claims, trying to get Congress to stop patent hunters, for example, is something anyone can discuss. You don`t need to look at specifications or have knowledge of chemistry to understand how patent term extensions or patent links (linking patent status to drug regulatory approval status) affect access to medicines.

You don`t need to familiarize yourself with technology to examine the patent landscape in other countries and determine how they meet or fail to meet treaty obligations. Elise Baumgarten is a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. She is a litigator with a focus on complex commercial and patent litigation. Sumeet Dang is a partner at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. His practice focuses on patent litigation and appeals in the pharmaceutical and technology industries. If you can meet one of the following criteria, the Patent Office may allow you to practice patent law: For more information on what patent attorneys do and what it`s like to be a patent attorney, I recommend reading my article on it. But the PTO is not the only place where patent law is practiced. Patent litigation in federal courts continues to thrive, and these proceedings also benefit from the diversity of practitioners. And while PTO practitioners must have technical training, practice in federal courts only requires admission to a state bar association and the federal court itself, neither of which require a technical degree. If you are interested in patent law but are not sure whether a patent attorney is right for you, you can learn more about patent attorneys and patent examiners by reading my articles about them and their work.

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