Patent attorney
One may also qualify to sit for the exams if the individual is a resident of Canada and has been employed for at least 24 months on the examining staff at the Canadian patent office.
Unlike the US system, the Canadian examination format is paper based with a variety of essay-type and short answer questions and is offered at least once a year, typically in April.
Review courses are held each summer and fall by IPIC (Intellectual Property Institute of Canada).
Those who enroll for the examination must have an engineering or scientific degree (though long experience in a scientific domain can be sufficient under certain limited conditions), and the candidate must also have practised under supervision for at least two years[citation needed] in the domain of national or European patent law.
[12] Typically, a representative is required if the patent applicant (or all of them if more than one) does not have a place of business in an EPC contracting state.
The main reason is that Hong Kong does not have a standard patent (20 years) original grant system.
Indian Patent Law mandates a science or technical degree for person(s) to appear for the qualifying examination.
[16] However, a decision on March 15, 2013, by the Madras High Court (Single Judge), stated that advocates, by possessing a law degree from a recognized university, have a right to file, appear and undertake all responsibilities of a patent agent.
The single judge rejected the contention that to appear before the Patent Office, advocates required additional specific science/technical qualification such as B.Tech.
According to this judgement, Advocates having degree in Engineering and Science are "Registered Patent Attorney" in India.
[17] Under Section 107 of Ireland's Patents Act, 1992 entry in the Register of Patent Agents requires that the applicant resides and has a place in a member state of the European Union and possesses the prescribed educational and professional qualifications, which are: As in the UK (see below), exemptions from the Drafting and Amendment papers can be obtained if the equivalent papers in the European Qualifying Examination have been passed.
Benrishi are allowed to practice a variety of intellectual property law (patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition and trade secret) and are given the power to represent clients in litigation and arbitration within the area specified by Patent Attorney Law in Japan.
After successful passing the qualification exam a person is included in the register of patent attorneys which is maintained by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property.
[32] This requires: Taiwan is a technology-intensive industrialized developed country, and receives more than 80,000 patent applications a year (2006~2008).
However, for political reasons, Taiwan is not a member state of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
[38] Their legal status is regulated by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Enactment "On affirmation of the Provision about the representatives in the sphere of intellectual property (patent attorneys)" No.
Examination and registration of patent attorneys are conducted by the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine.
[40] Qualification is achieved by passing the PEB[41] patent foundation level papers (or gaining an exemption by passing certain university courses such as that organised by Queen Mary University in London) and then the PEB patent advanced level papers.
Today, roughly 45,000 people are on the list of registered patent practitioners with slightly less than 34,000 of them also licensed to practice law.
[49] Patent attorneys must also be admitted to the practice of law in at least one state or territory of the U.S. or in the District of Columbia.
Patent agents cannot provide legal services of this nature, nor can they represent clients before the Trademark Office part of the USPTO.
The exam consists of 100 questions in multiple choice format, and is open-book with examinees permitted to use a PDF version of the MPEP.
[50] Upon successful completion of the examination, one will be labeled as a "patent attorney" if he/she has already been admitted to a state or territorial bar.
[51] The pass rate has dropped noticeably since the provisions of the America Invents Act, implemented in March 2013, were first included in the exam.
