<p>Do you have to go to a law school in order to become one?
In patentbarstudy.com the qualification for taking the bar exam is at least a B.S. degree.</p>
<p>Also, what's the difference between patent lawyer and patent attorney?
Even if you pass the bar exam, are you still not guaranteed in becoming a patent lawyer/attorney?
I heard that people who want to study intellectual property law should earn a law degree -> how is IP different from patent law?</p>
<p>Each state has a bar exam; you generally need to pass one to be a lawyer. The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has its own exam. You don't need to go to law school to take it, but you do have to have taken a certain number of science or engineering courses. If you're not a lawyer, and qualify for the PTO exam and pass it, you're a patent agent. Lawyers who qualify for the exam and pass it are patent lawyers. Either one can prosecute patents (i.e. file patent applications). A patent lawyer (or any other lawyer, for that matter) can give legal advice about patents; a patent agent isn't supposed to give legal advice.</p>
<p>The terms "lawyer" and "attorney" are used interchangeably; technically, a lawyer is one skilled in the law, and an attorney is someone who represents other people. (State bar certificates declare you to be "an attorney and counselor at law," or "an attorney entitled to practice in the courts," or similar formulation.) You can't legally call yourself an attorney or a lawyer unless you're a member of a state bar.</p>
<p>What's the salary difference between a patent agent and a patent lawyer?</p>
<p>So, to be a patent lawyer, you need to go up to law school and take the bar exam, and to be a patent agent, you only need to earn your Bachelor's Degree and pass the exam?</p>
<p>To become a patent lawyer, that is, a lawyer who files and handles patent applications, you must graduate from law school and pass two examinations - a state bar exam and the exam given by the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) on patent law and rules. You also need to satisfy the PTO requirements in science eduation in order to be allowed to take their exam. These generally amount to earning a bachelor's degree in certain scence or engineering subjetcs, or what the PTO regards as being equivalent to that. </p>
<p>To become a patent agent you need only qualify for and pass the PTO exam.</p>
<p>Some lawyers who practice patent litigation (suing in courts) are patent attorneys, some are not. So if you wish to do that, you don't necessarily have to be a registered patent attorney - but it usually helps to be one.</p>
<p>To find requirements for sitting for the patent bar, see <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb17feb05.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb17feb05.pdf</a></p>
<p>As for IP v. patent law, patent law is a subset of intellectual property. IP encompasses any idea which can be protected, such as trademarks (anything with that little TM or R sign after it), trade dress (think Friday's with its striped tables, waiters who have "flair," etc - something that makes a business stand out by its overall "look"), copyrights (not just books and music - computer programmes can be included in this as well), patents, and trade secrets (Coca-Cola's recipe being the classic example). You only need a techical background for patent law.</p>
<p>I read in the blue link that foreigners cannot take the PTO exam unless if there are satisfying exceptions. I, as a non-native speaker of English without much background in law, am having trouble following the process. So, what are the cases in which a foreigner can take this exam?</p>
<p>If I'm reading correctly, foreigners who reside in the US can apply to take the examination, so long as they are eligible to work in the US.</p>
<p>But that does not mean that you can take the exam while attending law school?(Am I correct?)
You should be WORKING, not attending an institution, etc.?</p>
<p>It looks to me that a foreigner (by which I understand you mean a resident alien) who is not a registered patent agent in his/her own country can take the examination only if his/her visa authorizes employment in that category - that is, if the visa authorizes one to be employed or trained to file and prosecute US patent applications.</p>
<p>However, the wording is rather complicated. If this is a serious question, you should ask it of the USPTO.</p>
<p>In any case, if you are having difficulties with English, taking the exmaination may not be a good move. The examination has a pass rate of only about 50% at most and one must master the detailed USPTO rules to pass it. Like all government regulations, they are lengthy and not always written in concise Enlgish.</p>
<p>"Like all government regulations, they are lengthy and not always written in concise Enlgish."</p>
<p>What? Do you mean that they have run-on sentences which span 20 lines, contain 23 commas, and 10 semi-colons? (Says jokingly)</p>
<p>To be serious, government regulations are not fun to read. They are often very poorly written, very unclear, and full of technical jargon. They are not written for clarity. I often have to read them at least twice to get a basic understanding of what the regulation does.</p>
<p>The pass rate for prior years can be found online. As DadofSam said, it's about 50% (and about 47% in these past few years). It is also a very expensive test, costing several hundred dollars for both the fee to even take it and about $200 to the testing center. It is done on computer, although there is one test given by paper every year.</p>
<p>In addition to formal requirements in terms of exams and college course work, it is not uncommon for law firms to require specific degrees (e.g. chemical engineering) when they hire for patent law. I vaguely recall a thread somewhere that discussed the relative values of bachelors' vs masters' degrees, and perhaps compared the appeals of different majors (e.g. biology vs electrical engineering), when it comes to hiring. Anyone care to update that discussion?</p>