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Related note: anyone with a qualifying engineering degree can [become a patent practitioner][1]. I stumbled across this while looking into law school and was s

Related note: anyone with a qualifying engineering degree can [become a patent practitioner][1]. I stumbled across this while looking into law school and was surprised to see my Computer Science degree was all I needed to qualify for the exam. The exam is difficult from the sense that each question has a good amount of information you need to process and 100 questions is mentally straining. However, the exam is open book and you basically have everything you need to figure out all the questions during the exam. The exam is also relatively cheap, somewhere around $500 total (not including any additional learning materials, I use [OmniPrep][2]), and allows you to practice as a patent practitioner nationally. [1]: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/patent-and-trademark-practitioners/becoming-patent-practitioner https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/patent-and-trad... [2]: https://www.omnipreppatent.com/ https://www.omnipreppatent.com/

cgb223 6y ago
What does a patent practitioner do? Do you enjoy it?
- rudolph9 6y ago
  Basically a patent practitioner can file patents on someone else’s behalf (file, contest decisions, transfer ownership, etc.) I’m not a patent practitioner yet. I failed the exam the first time I took it and studying for my second attempt. I do not enjoy it! Patent law is dry and boring and I can’t believe more this isn’t automated. Patents are powerful though and I hope to build software to empower individuals to file with a business model that encourages support for open source solutions (github for patents? but given the nature of patents that doesn’t really make sense) It’s a WIP.
1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago
USPTO used to have a limitation on Computer Science degree as a qualifier. It had to be from an approved Computer Science program. There were only a handful of approved programs; most were not sufficient to qualify. Have they changed the rules?
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Unfortunately they have not. (And you may be aware of this, but I should note that the required ABET accreditation doesn't have much to do with adequacy; many of the best CS programs specifically choose not to seek it because they don't agree with ABET's requirements.)
  - 1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago
    I changed the word adequate to sufficient. I have long wondered about this issue of qualifying with a CS degree and have never met anyone who has qualified that way. I suspect if we looked at the courses required for the CS degree at the handful of approved programs we might see a difference from the courses required for the non-approved programs, but I am just guessing. I would love to know the reasoning behind this rule.

cgb223 6y ago

What does a patent practitioner do? Do you enjoy it?

rudolph9 6y ago
Basically a patent practitioner can file patents on someone else’s behalf (file, contest decisions, transfer ownership, etc.) I’m not a patent practitioner yet. I failed the exam the first time I took it and studying for my second attempt. I do not enjoy it! Patent law is dry and boring and I can’t believe more this isn’t automated. Patents are powerful though and I hope to build software to empower individuals to file with a business model that encourages support for open source solutions (github for patents? but given the nature of patents that doesn’t really make sense) It’s a WIP.

1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago

USPTO used to have a limitation on Computer Science degree as a qualifier. It had to be from an approved Computer Science program. There were only a handful of approved programs; most were not sufficient to qualify. Have they changed the rules?

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
Unfortunately they have not. (And you may be aware of this, but I should note that the required ABET accreditation doesn't have much to do with adequacy; many of the best CS programs specifically choose not to seek it because they don't agree with ABET's requirements.)
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago
  I changed the word adequate to sufficient. I have long wondered about this issue of qualifying with a CS degree and have never met anyone who has qualified that way. I suspect if we looked at the courses required for the CS degree at the handful of approved programs we might see a difference from the courses required for the non-approved programs, but I am just guessing. I would love to know the reasoning behind this rule.