Patent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney-at-law specialized in patent law. In the United States, a patent attorney is admitted to practice before at least one court, while a patent agent is not admitted to do so. However, both are admitted to practice before the USPTO, as legal ethics rules prohibit attorneys from using the title "patent attorney" unless they are admitted to practice before the USPTO.
United States
In order to be registered as a patent agent in the United States, one must pass the USPTO registration examination, a 100-question, multiple-choice test. The required score to pass is 70%. In the legal community, the exam is frequently and incorrectly referred to as the patent bar. It is not required to have a law degree to sit for the exam; indeed, it is not necessary to have even taken a course in law. However, the USPTO requires that all candidates for registration have a background in one of the hard sciences. This requirement is typically met with a bachelor's degree in a field such as chemistry, physics, biology, or engineering.
Before June 2004, the USPTO registration exam was a pencil-and-paper test given at approximately 15 locations around the country. The USPTO has moved to a computer-based examination, which can be taken on any business day at any of several hundred locations around the country. Once an applicant has been approved to sit for the exam, he or she has 90 days in which to schedule an examination date with the USPTO contractor that administers the exam. The pencil-and-paper test is still offered once a year at the USPTO's office.
If a law student passes the registration exam and becomes admitted as a patent agent before admission to the bar, he or she is allowed to change registration to patent attorney upon supplying USPTO with proof of admission.
Europe
In order to practice before the European Patent Office as a registered professional representative or European Patent Attorney, it is also necessary to pass a pencil-and-paper examination, the European qualifying examination or EQE. In addition, an engineering or scientific degree is required (though a long experience in a scientific domain can be sufficient under certain conditions) and at least three years of practice in the domain of national or European patent law.
The European Patent Convention precisely specifies in which case it is required to be represented a professional representative in proceedings ( EPC).
Notable patent attorneys
Fictional characters who are patent attorneys
See also
