Becoming a patent attorney is not an easy task. It requires years of study, hard work and determination. But with the right amount of preparation and practice, you can become a patent attorney with ease.
Becoming a patent attorney requires years of training and education. You must first earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering or science from an accredited university before enrolling in law school to study for your Juris Doctorate. After graduating from law school, you must complete three years of supervised experience before becoming eligible to take the Patent Bar Exam (or Patent Trial and Appeal Board Examination), which enables you to practice before the U.S. Patent Office.
The Patent Bar Exam consists of two parts: one hour of multiple choice questions regarding general patent law and three hours of written questions covering the various subfields within patent law (e.g., design patents, utility patents). Candidates who pass both portions are then admitted as patent attorneys by the USPTO, although many states also require additional exams to practice before their respective courts; this varies by state so we recommend contacting your local bar association for more information on this process.
How To Become Patent Attorney
Many objects we interact with are intellectual property, from the songs we listen to and the movies we watch to the designs behind every tool we use. Patents, copyrights and trademarks legally establish the rights to intellectual property. A patent lawyer is an expert in these fields and helps their clients use these tools to profit from and protect their ideas. In this article, we look at what a patent attorney does, what skills their work requires and how you can become a patent attorney.
Showcase your skills with help from a resume expert
What is a patent attorney?
Patent attorneys, or intellectual property lawyers, specialize in laws relating to idea ownership. They provide legal advice to protect a client’s ideas, including assessing similar patents or copyrights and determining whether there is an infringement and if it is significant. When an inventor files a patent, their patent attorney writes the application and gets it processed. If there is a dispute regarding intellectual property, the patent attorney represents their client in litigation. Patent attorneys may specialize in certain forms of intellectual property, like patents or trademarks, or a certain technical field.
Related: 16 Highest Paying Legal Jobs
What is the difference between a patent agent and a patent attorney?
A patent attorney helps clients throughout the entire process of getting a patent, from working with the inventor during the development process to filing the patent and defending it from intellectual theft after they file it. A patent agent refers to someone who has passed the national patent bar exam but has not gone to law school and passed a state bar exam. A patent agent can consult on patent matters, but cannot provide legal advice.
The terms patent agent and patent attorney are interchangeable in some places, so consider the context to make sure you understand what the terms mean in different settings.
Read more: How To Become a Patent Agent
Patent attorney skills
A patent attorney may need a wide variety of legal and technical skills to understand and represent their clients’ patents. These are some skills a patent attorney may use:
- Legal and scientific writing: An attorney creates patent applications, so they need to be fluent in legal and scientific language to describe inventions. They also need to read and understand other patents to make sure no one has already patented an idea, and file the correct court documentation in any legal activity needed to protect intellectual property.
- Legal advising: As a lawyer in good standing, a patent attorney can provide legal advice on contracts, licenses, patents and trademarks, and how to use those tools to protect ideas and property.
- Legal representation: Patent attorneys represent their clients in court when they need to settle intellectual property disputes.
- Technical knowledge: Many patents are highly specific and detailed, as inventors constantly develop new ideas and variations on older concepts. A patent attorney must be able to understand these inventions, and other inventions, to identify even the smallest difference.
How to become a patent attorney
Becoming a patent attorney requires at least seven years of study and at least three exams at different points. Here are six steps to become a patent attorney:
1. Earn a science or engineering degree
First, a potential patent attorney earns a four-year college degree, usually a Bachelor of Science degree, in an engineering or science field. This can provide the technical knowledge base for you to understand the patents you’re going to be working with, so you can choose a major in a field you’re interested in. If you choose a field that is developing quickly, you may find a greater demand for specialists in your area as a patent attorney.
If you have a bachelor’s degree in a field that is not science or engineering, some graduate study in science or engineering may be a substitute. The purpose of this study on the way to becoming a patent attorney is to qualify you for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) exam, so if you decide to pursue graduate study, be sure you take the right credit hours to qualify.
2. Take the LSAT
Next, you’ll need to take the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT. It’s a two-part exam, with a multiple-choice section about reading comprehension, analytical reasoning and logical reasoning, and a written portion involving an essay from a randomly selected prompt.
3. Attend law school
After you pass the LSAT, you’ll attend an accredited law school to get a juris doctor degree. Many law programs offer concentrations in copyright and trademark, intellectual property and patent law. If you attend as a full-time student, the degree usually takes three years to complete, although part-time evening programs are available that can take four or five years.
4. Pass the state bar exam
You’ll need to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer in the state you want to practice in. Depending on where you take it, the bar exam varies significantly, but most states use at least some bar exam components developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. These exams include multiple-choice questions on different areas of law and the proper conduct of lawyers, essay questions and longer tasks developed to test candidates’ legal approach to situations.
5. Pass patent bar and register with USPTO
To practice patent law, you would register with the USPTO. This involves submitting an application and passing the multiple-choice exam, also called the patent bar exam. Some coursework or experience in science or engineering is a prerequisite for this exam, but a bachelor’s degree may be adequate. Graduate-level work does not automatically qualify you, but if it fills the specific credit-hour requirements, it may be enough.
To apply to register with the USPTO:
- Send documents to USPTO: Send the relevant transcripts from your scientific or engineering study, and a completed application form, proof of citizenship or Visa status.
- If approved: When the USPTO approves your application, you can schedule your exam.
- After the exam: If you pass the exam, you’ll send in a registration fee and become a legally registered patent attorney. You can review the questions you missed if you didn’t pass.
6. Consider additional specialized education
If you’d like to extend your specialization, you might consider a master of laws degree, or LL.M., in a particular area such as multinational intellectual property law or patent litigation. These degrees usually take one year of full-time study to complete.
Related: FAQ: How Do I Know If I Want to Be a Lawyer?
Job outlook and salary for patent attorneys
The average base salary for patent attorneys in the U.S. is $159,649 per year. The salary depends on your geographic area, your employer and your specialization. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected growth rate for all lawyers is 4% between 2019 and 2029, which would mean 32,200 new jobs.
