WASHINGTON — As part of a wider effort aimed at stakeholders fully benefitting from the sweeping reforms of the America Invents Act (AIA), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today that it has updated a critical examination for applicants seeking to practice in patent cases before the Office.
The updates ensure that newly registered patent attorneys and agents are fully qualified in the most current patent laws, rules and procedures, and final rule packages that took effect September 16, 2012—one year after President Obama signed the historic bipartisan AIA into law.
“By requiring practitioners to have a keen grasp on all of the latest changes to patent laws and processes, we are helping ensure that deserving new innovations get to the marketplace faster and more efficiently,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “The updated exam announced today means more entrepreneurs can more quickly patent ideas, which will help boost the economy.”
A complete listing of source and reference materials for the 100-question registration examination is available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/ip/
The USPTO anticipates making another update to the examination when the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA become effective in March 2013.
For non-press inquiries about the examination, contact Will Covey, Deputy General Counsel for Enrollment and Discipline and Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline, at (571) 272-4097.
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Editor’s Note: For more on this update to the Patent Bar Examination please see my recent article Patent Bar Exam Refresh. Here is an excerpt:
As you may have already heard, effective — October 2, 2012 — the United States Patent and Trademark Office will be adding a significant volume of newly testable material to the Office’s Registration Exam (i.e., the “Patent Bar Exam”). Specifically, the USPTO has added six new testable documents to the Patent Bar Exam, with these newly testable documents coming in the form of six Federal Register Notices. All of this is thanks to the America Invents Act (AIA).
Does this mean that the Patent Bar will become more difficult?
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