Anybody ever taken the Patent Bar exam?

[hizaguchi]

I'm a mechanical engineering student about to graduate in May and I don't have a job lined up yet. Today in my seminar class, a patent lawyer came in and talked about patent law and how people with science degrees are eligible to take the Patent Bar (no law school required) and become patent agents... earning $150-$200 an hour. So I'm wondering if anybody has ever taken this exam, and if so, what it is like. Also, since I am not a lawyer I am unable to decipher the convoluted registration instructions and so I can't tell what it would cost someone in my position to take the test. It says the registration fee is either $40 or $1600, depending on a bunch of criteria that is complete gibberish to me.

What's the deal with all of this? Is it something I could pull off? Is it worth it if I can?

[DoctorMO]

There was an article on groklaw with a link to a linux podcast where they interviewed a technical patent agent. very interesting, sorry I can't find the link though.

[mips]

Also, since I am not a lawyer I am unable to decipher the convoluted registration instructions and so I can't tell what it would cost someone in my position to take the test.

Got a link to the site ?

EDIT: Just googled patent bar and it gave me a gazillion links on stuff like how to pass the patent bar etc

http://www.patentbarbri.com/patent/patent_frameset.htm they even have exams there.
http://www.patentbarstudy.com/pto/ptoexams.html

[hizaguchi]

Yeah, it's a pdf: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb15nov05.pdf

[Bezmotivnik]

I'm a mechanical engineering student about to graduate in May and I don't have a job lined up yet. Today in my seminar class, a patent lawyer came in and talked about patent law and how people with science degrees are eligible to take the Patent Bar (no law school required) and become patent agents... earning $150-$200 an hour.
The whole "patent lawyer" thing is a bit fishy.

It's my understanding that anyone who has graduated from law school but who has failed to pass the bar examination can also do patent law. Yes, lots of law school grads never pass the bar. Typically, these unfortunates present themselves to the world as "Patent Attorneys" rather than as crashed-and-burned non-lawyers.

Patent attorneys are not considered "real" lawyers, nor are they typically members of their respective State Bar Assosciations.

Here in California, you don't have to go to law school to take the bar exam and become a "real" attorney. If you work for seven years in the legal profession as, say, a paralegal, you may take the bar exam the same as any law school grad. If you pass, you're in, you're the Real Deal. It's based in old English Common Law and is referred to as "reading the Law."

It's becoming increasingly common for longtime law-office drudges to take bar exam cram-courses, pass the bar and go back to work at their same offices at very enhanced pay rates. :mrgreen: I've personally known people who have done this.

Considering how many people unintentionally wind up as putative patent lawyers, I can't see there being any great demand for them. :-k

[mips]

I went to have a look at our local scenario and here people tend to have a normal law degree + a BSc. They usually come from the BSc & then do the 4yr LLB law degree. 8+yrs of study when you consider articles, no thank you.

[hizaguchi]

The whole "patent lawyer" thing is a bit fishy.

It's my understanding that anyone who has graduated from law school but who has failed to pass the bar examination can also do patent law. Yes, lots of law school grads never pass the bar. Typically, these unfortunates present themselves to the world as "Patent Attorneys" rather than as crashed-and-burned non-lawyers.
Hmm, not sure about that. What I've been reading is that you need a BS (or alot of courses) in some science/technical field like physics, chemistry, or engineering to take the patent bar. I guess it's possible that those law school grads had such undergrad degrees, but I only know of 1 engineering student planning on going to law school. Most non-engineer engineering students I know of use (biomedical) engineering as a med school catapult. Same for other sciences. I could totally be wrong though. I don't know many lawyers since I can sense evil and try to avoid it. ;)

I'm not so much interested in the wannabe lawyer thing anyhow. I just think writing patents and then arguing with the Patent Office over them sounds like a fun and challenging job. The litigation that follows after the patent process is done is totally somebody else's ballgame. :)

[rkh]

It's my understanding that anyone who has graduated from law school but who has failed to pass the bar examination can also do patent law. Yes, lots of law school grads never pass the bar. Typically, these unfortunates present themselves to the world as "Patent Attorneys" rather than as crashed-and-burned non-lawyers.

No- IAAL by the way- to be a "patent attorney" you need to be an attorney and pass the patent bar- failing the bar exam and calling yourself any kind of attorney is called practicing law without a license.

[petersjm]

Okay, this is something close to me, to some degree. I work for a Patent and Trade Mark attorney firm. I ain't no lawyer, I'm in marketing, but I can kind of grasp the concept. I don't know how it works in the US, but if you're seriously interested, PM me and I'll see if I can get one of our lawyers to speak with you, if you want.

I've had mixed ideas about this whole thing. I believe in protecting your inventions/copyright etc, but when it comes to software patents (bringing it back to Ubuntu!) I disagree. We do some software patenting at work, but we do more electronic and chemical stuff. In fact, one of our lawyers has a dream of getting Microsoft "on our books"... Some people, eh?

I'm not sure about your US "Bar", but in my firm, a first degree (first class honours) in a science field can get you working in a patent agents as a trainee. After that, I believe there's about 4-6 years training with English Law, Patent course and Trade Mark courses (depending on your speciality). After that, when you're fully qualified, you can get 200-300 GBP (British pounds) an hour. One of our trainees is already on something like 160 GBP an hour!

[slimdog360]

One of our trainees is already on something like 160 GBP an hour!

holy cow, thats all I can say.

[hizaguchi]

I've been looking more into it, and I don't think there is alot of opportunity for a patent agent around here. I may take the test later on when I can afford it anyway though, and maybe I can make decent money at it. Thanks for the information, petersjm.