Know the Function of Patent Lawyer
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Who are patent attorneys and what do they do? Patent lawyers are basically lawyers that are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They are also licensed to practice law in at least one bar or bar association. And you know that patent law is the only area of law that require separate license.
In other words, theoretically, any lawyer to practice tax law, water law, criminal defense, personal injury, etc. Even if these different areas of law all require years of specialized training and many bodies separate knowledge and skill sets, any lawyer can practice any of those different areas of law.
In terms of education, Rwanda patent lawyer are required to have “hard science” degree even allowed to sit for the USPTO bar exam. This means a hard science degree science degree with difficult courses like organic chemistry laboratory, engineering, physics, biotechnology, or thermodynamics. The USPTO will not consider a degree in Political Science is science degree acceptable to the Patent Bar Exam.
Besides science degree, patent lawyers are required to be licensed with at least one bar or bar association (there is little difference between the two). This means that they will have three years law degree from a law school. This also means that they will have to pass state bar exam. The state bar exam can be anywhere from two to three days of around 12-18 hours. In contrast, the patent bar exam is one day, six hour exam.
Since South Africa is a non-examining country, there will be no investigation on novelty or merit of the invention. Only the form of documentation will be evaluated not the product and process. Hence for consolation one can take assistance from Patent attorney.
Here is a Patent Lawyer blog for you to follow with, if feel necessary.
