Posts Tagged: "patent bar examination"

Reflections on Taking the Patent Bar Exam

If you are reading this article beyond the title, you are either preparing to take the USPTO’s patent bar exam or you are considering whether you should take the patent bar exam. Either way, the fact that you are looking for insight into how to pass yet another bar exam – after you’ve already passed your state’s bar exam – flies in the face of your earlier (and earnest) promise to yourself that the last exam you took was, in fact, the last exam you would ever take in your life. I feel your pain.

On the Road in March 2015

I will be criss-crossing the country again in March 2015, with stops in Washington, DC, Chicago, Michigan, and San Fransisco. What follows is my schedule for the month. If you are in the area come out to say hello.

Everything You Need to Know About the Patent Bar Exam

In recent years the registration exam to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office has undergone significant change… There will be yet another update to the USPTO registration exam at the end of January 2014. The updated examination will additionally cover: (1) First-Inventor-to-File Final Rules; (2) Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012; and (3) Changes to Representation of Others Before the USPTO Final Rules. Thus, the exam that will be given beginning on or about January 21, 2014, will be substantially different than the examination given at the beginning of April 2011.

Patent Bar Exam: MPEP Search Strategies

Those days are long gone, for nearly a decade now, but when you do take the examination you will be provided with an electronic copy of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures. Don’t fool yourself though — the fact that this is an “open book” exam does not mean that it is easy or that you will be able to “wing it” and rely on the MPEP as a crutch. Many people have difficulty finishing the exam and it is a recipe for failure to simply plan to rely on the MPEP to get you through the exam. This is particularly true today where much of the examination is based on new material not found in the MPEP and only available in Federal Register Notices.

Beware Patent Bar Exam Study Advice

Perhaps the most ridiculous suggestion given (step 8) is to download the free PTO Patent Bar Exam Review Package from CNET. The WikiHow article explains that this free package contains MPEP 8th edition revisions 1 and 2. Why would you ever want to even consider the 8th edition revisions 1 and 2 when you will be tested on the 8th edition revision 9? Revision 9 was published August 2012. Revision 1 was published February 2003 and revision 2 was published May 2004. Why would anyone who is at all serious use materials that are a decade old to take an exam that is constantly being updated and refreshed with new materials? If you study the wrong MPEP edition you have absolutely NO chance to pass the patent bar exam.