Has anyone thought about becoming a Patent lawyer?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Just throwing the question out there...
How different is the patent lawyer's job from that of an engineer?</p>

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<p>They basically handle the paperwork and legal mumbo-jumbo for people attempting to patent their inventions, and so I doubt they do any sort of engineering at all, although a degree in a science or engineering field is required to be a patent attorney. And I don’t think you’ll be in on much innovation; apparently most of the inventions are just slight modifications of pre-existing ones. Being part of the law profession, it is inherently boring :smiley:
<a href=“http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/patent_agent_job_description.jsp[/url]”>http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/patent_agent_job_description.jsp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Although if any patent lawyers are reading this, I’d like some help filing a patent for this human-powered ferris wheel I’ve been daydreaming about.</p>

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<p>^ along the same lines, i’m interested in patenting the process i used to make this post. interested patent lawyers, send your PMs.</p>

4

<p>I know a 28 y/o patent lawyer in Miami. He’s a baller.</p>

5

<p>One of my good friends in undergrad had planned on working at the US Patent Office, but then she found out that once you work there you’re not allowed to get a patent for something like five years until after you leave.</p>

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<p>So, is the Q of L for a patent lawyer greater than that of most engineers?</p>

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<p>For obvious reasons…</p>

8

<p>do patent lawyer usually work in the field of their undergrad degree for a few years before actually going to law school?</p>

9

<p>I thought about until I realized I hate reading and writing.</p>

10

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<p>Pretty standard rule for any government agency. I was barred from doing work for New York State DOT projects for a certain amount of time after I stopped working for them. Those that are high up in the DOT org chart even had lifetime bans.</p>

11

<p>I thought quite heavily about it. A few things to think about:</p>

<p>1) The hours of a patent attorney are not light.
2) The pay is good.
3) You aren’t really helping the US economy (patents can be said to ■■■■■■ innovation…).</p>

12

<p>^Arguing against your third post:</p>

<p>Would innovation be as desirable if patents didn’t exist? You invented something? Great. Now a company with better marketing skills will just steal your idea and potential earnings. </p>

<p>But patents do ■■■■■■ innovation in the sense that after a product is produced, there is basically monopoly power going to the patent owner, which generally is detrimental to the market/society. So there are arguments for both sides, certainly. </p>

<p>Feel free to correct any of the assumptions I made in my post. I do not declare myself a patent or economics expert by any means.</p>

13

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As you said, there are arguments for both sides. With the creation of patent ■■■■■■ (companies which sit on patents and do not use them) I think there needs to be reform in this area. Patents should be honored, but only if the company uses them. I think RIM had to deal with this problem, among others.</p>

14

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<p>^Yeah, that kinda sucks. On the brighter side, apparently a new director for the patent office has been confirmed. On the topic of patent ■■■■■■, here was a quote from the article:

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<p>Possible reason for hope?</p>

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<p>I considered becoming a lawyer. Then I decided to take the advice of every lawyer I know - I stopped considering becoming a lawyer.</p>

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<p>^ did they tell you their reason?</p>

<p>looks like i’m actually considering Medicine/Pharmacy… rather than engineering/law/finance/etc</p>

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<p>The way I see it, patents do only ■■■■■■ innovation as with all intellectual property. if somebody takes the time and money to invect, develop and market a product, I dont feel they should be protected. The fear of market forces should always be there and them being there will always push to advance technology in general. So if person A creates a product and markets it, person A should have absolutely nothing to worry about if person B copies the product. The reason A should have no worries is that he knows that his product is the best it can be at the absolute cheapest price for the consumer. Even if B copies and markets the product, A knows that his product will be better and will be the choice of the market. The problem only occurs when A didn’t properly develop his product and now has a fear that his product is not up to snuff. If A seeks protection from B. We then must assume since this protection was taken from B, that A’s product is not of the highest quality that the cheapest price will allow. That is a retardation of technological advancement, no matter how you see it.</p>

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<p>Does anybody have a link to or a list of the Computer Science Accreditation Commission’s list of CS programs that enable students to take the Patent Bar. I am looking for a list other than the one posted on [Patent</a> Bar Exam Review - TAPRE Course](<a href=“http://www.taprecourse.com%5DPatent”>http://www.taprecourse.com).</p>

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<p>Or, since B doesn’t have recoup all of the research and development costs, they can just charge a lower price for an identical product.</p>

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<p>I’m surprised this thread hasn’t been mentioned yet:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It goes into detail about patent-law. It’ll answer most of your questions about getting into, the practice of, and who can be, a patent lawyer (vs patent examiner, IP consultant, etc.)</p>