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Any patent lawyers?

Q

QueHuong

Platinum Member
I hear it's a very lucrative career and you would need a science or engineering background. I'm majoring in biomed engineering right now so if I do post-undergrad, this is a possible career path, but I'm still very unfamiliar with it. I've read a little about it already in the Occupational Career Handbook, but for those familiar with the career, what can you tell me that's probably not talked about in books?
 
yes PL does require a science/eng undergrad but no other post-grad work, beside the JD work, is required.

it can be very lucrative because of limited supply. you can actually sit for the PL bar, if you have the requsite undergrad, as soon as you begin law school.

sorry i don't have more info, my undergrad was MIS so I won't be practising PL.

edit: i think i have heard some law students with hard-science degrees say that they chose not to do PL because it was too boring but this is hearsay and YMMV.

edit2: just saw that you are from cincy, i live in mason. I don't think any local law schools (UC/UD/NKU) are geared to producing PL attorneys though UD is becoming know for Intellectual Property law.
 
I'm not a patent attorney, but I have two patents, and for my second one, I wrote my own application and got it accepted.

Of course, first, you have to go through law school (duh!). If you are considering going into patent law, you'll also have to be good at writing because "patentese" is a very tedious and precise language.

There are many areas of patent law. Engineering and technology is only one general direction. If you're into engineering, by the time you get your undergrad engineeing degree, you'll have a lot better idea of what area of engineering intersts you and what you want to do with it. If you're really good and creative with it, you may find you can invent enough stuff that it'll be better to keep working at that and let the attorneys and patent agents do the grunt work of writing and filing your patent apps. 🙂
 
I go to UC right now for my undergrad. Is there a rank for PL like in US News and World Reports?

Harvey, what were your patents in and what do you do? I'm just curious.

And any other opinions will be helpful.
 
I'm an electronic design engineer. Most of my work is analog, mostly pro audio, even some tube stuff (studio gear, not hi-fi tweak stuff). My patents are for high performance analog multipliers used as elecronic volume controls. US Pat. # 4,155,047 and 5,157,350. If you look them up, the writing and the drawings for the second one are all my work. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: mfs378
Anyone know any figures (ie. $$$) for patent attorneys?

Just curious.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they makes some serious dough. If you just pass the bar exam and don't go to law school, you can get to six figures as a patent agent.
 
i'm patent pending (not the principle inventor, just listed).....actually on an electronic patent submission software. Ironically, we actually used our own software to submit the patent electronically 🙂

I worked for LegalStar (http://www.legalstar.com) as a co-op student last Spring and part time over the school year. They're one of 3 or 4 companies which have a government contract to create electronic patent submission software for the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
 
Tons of patent lawyers have graduate degrees, and many of them highly recommend getting one, so your post-undergrad may not be law school but BME graduate school and then law school. Your education and technical pedigrees are important. I've been told that most biology and medical related patent lawyers basically need a PhD to practice, not sure if BME would fall in that. There are rankings for the best IP schools, but a lot of them are "weird" or "no-name" schools that you've never heard of or wouldn't even imagine being highly ranked.
 
how much does it cost to get a patent law degree in terms of time and money. I have a BSEE degree, and it seems like for every patent I get 2K, and the lawyer gets 10K, so I am on the wrong end 😉
 
Originally posted by: SuperTool
how much does it cost to get a patent law degree in terms of time and money. I have a BSEE degree, and it seems like for every patent I get 2K, and the lawyer gets 10K, so I am on the wrong end 😉
Click to expand...

I guess it would depend which school you would go to and whether you would go full-time or part-time. But, a lot of good schools don't offer part-time. If I was working as an engineer I think it would definitely be worth it if I at least went part-time. I'm currently getting my MSEE and plan on going to law school.

You're in Sunnyvale according to your profile. Santa Clara University is an extremely respected IP law school... I think it's top 10. That's why I was saying that a lot of the top ranked schools are weird schools that most people wouldn't think of.
 
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: SuperTool
how much does it cost to get a patent law degree in terms of time and money. I have a BSEE degree, and it seems like for every patent I get 2K, and the lawyer gets 10K, so I am on the wrong end 😉
Click to expand...

I guess it would depend which school you would go to and whether you would go full-time or part-time. But, a lot of good schools don't offer part-time. If I was working as an engineer I think it would definitely be worth it if I at least went part-time. I'm currently getting my MSEE and plan on going to law school.

You're in Sunnyvale according to your profile. Santa Clara University is an extremely respected IP law school... I think it's top 10. That's why I was saying that a lot of the top ranked schools are weird schools that most people wouldn't think of.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Right now I am working part time on my Stanford Masters in EE, courtesy of my company. I wonder if I can get them to pay for patent law school 😉
 
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