The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency that grants patents and registers trademarks. The Constitution's Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, specifically authorizes Congress to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Congress does so through patents the USPTO issues, drawing additional authority from the Constitution's Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 commerce clause to authorize the USPTO to register trademarks.
Registered Patent Practitioners
The USPTO has adopted regulations to ensure that only qualified practitioners bring patent matters before it. The USPTO identifies those professionals as “registered patent practitioners.” Registered patent practitioners are patent professionals who have passed the USPTO's registration exam and met the other qualifications to represent patent applicants before the USPTO. The USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) registers patent practitioners. No one other than a registered patent practitioner may represent patent applicants before the USPTO. The USPTO retains the authority under 37 CFR Section 11.19(a) to discipline unregistered individuals who attempt to represent others before the USPTO. The USPTO does not require practitioners to register with the Office to practice trademark registration. USPTO trademark practitioners need only have a law license without additional registration requirements. By contrast, registered patent practitioners do not need a law license, although many are licensed lawyers.
The USPTO Registration Exam
Registered patent practitioners must take and pass the USPTO's registration exam, commonly known as the “patent bar exam,” to represent patent applicants before the USPTO. The registration or patent bar exam's purpose is to demonstrate that practitioners are competent to represent patent applicants before the USPTO. The USPTO registration exam is a difficult registration exam. The USPTO reports pass rates consistently below fifty percent. The exam's difficulty has largely to do with its complex mix of design, engineering, and law concepts, making the exam difficult for engineers to pass without law training and lawyers to pass without engineering knowledge. The USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline publishes a General Requirements Bulletin setting forth the qualifications and procedures to take and pass the USPTO registration exam.
Other USPTO Registration Requirements
Registered patent practitioners must meet 37 CFR Section 11.7's other registration requirements, beyond taking and passing the patent bar exam, to represent patent applicants before the USPTO. Those other requirements include possessing good moral character and reputation and possessing the legal, scientific, and technical qualifications necessary for valuable service. The OED's General Requirements Bulletin details those requirements as follows and their potential waiver in special cases.
USPTO Good Character Requirement
Proving to the OED that you have good moral character and reputation can become problematic when your application includes potentially disqualifying information. You must complete the OED's application form fully and accurately. That form will require your disclosure of any of the disqualifying conditions that the OED's General Requirements Bulletin lists. Those conditions generally include certain criminal convictions, professional license discipline, or previous USPTO denial of your application due to disqualifying conditions within two prior years. Retain national education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team if you have an OED dispute over your good character and reputation.
USPTO Registration Educational Requirement
The most onerous additional requirement beyond the difficult USPTO registration exam is the scientific and technical qualifications criterion. The OED's General Requirements Bulletin indicates that a bachelor's or higher-level degree from an accredited college or university in one of the listed scientific fields satisfies that requirement. Alternatively, a degree in another field may qualify the applicant if the course of study included a certain number of hours in one or more specified scientific fields. Applicants who cannot satisfy degree requirements must take and pass a Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) test proving their practical engineering or scientific experience. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you have an OED dispute involving your educational qualifications or documentation.
USPTO Registration Application
The USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) processes registration applications typically through an online application portal, although it also accepts PTO 158 Form paper applications. You should receive your application's approval within about four weeks. You must update your application if any of its information changes while you are in the application and examination process. If your application is invalid or incomplete, the OED's General Requirements Bulletin indicates that you will receive its request for clarification or notice of denial. You will then typically have a period of thirty days within which to reply or petition for a review of the decision. Your petition must be in a certain form with certain information if the OED is to reconsider its decision. Retain attorney advisor Lento to help you prepare your timely and effective reply or petition or if you face other irregularities and issues frustrating your application process.
USPTO Registration Exam Admission
While the OED handles its own registration applications, OED relies on Prometric testing centers for exam administration. Your OED notice of approval will typically give you ninety days within which to schedule your USPTO registration exam with a Prometric testing center. The OED's General Requirements Bulletin indicates that you may request an additional ninety days if you are unable to schedule your patent bar exam timely. Prometric offers a tutorial and other resources to help you adjust to and prepare for the computer-based patent bar exam. Prometric has its own process for you to gain admission to the exam. It also has its own rules and procedures governing your conduct at the test center before, during, and after the exam and other communications with its officials. Beware of those rules and procedures. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you face obstacles to scheduling.
USPTO Registration Exam Format
The USPTO registration or patent bar exam has one hundred multiple-choice questions. You must complete fifty of the questions in the first three hours of the exam and the other fifty questions in the second three hours of the exam. The USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) scores only ninety of the one-hundred questions. The remaining questions are pretest questions that the OED may use on future exams, although examinees do not know which questions. Candidates must correctly answer seventy percent of the scored questions, meaning sixty-three of the ninety scored questions. 37 CFR Section 11.7(e) assures failing examinees that they may review their incorrect answers at a Prometric testing center within sixty days of the exam. Exam rules and procedures regard test scores as final without the opportunity to appeal answers to specific questions. But retain attorney advisor Lento if you see anomalies in your patent bar exam scoring.
USPTO Registration Exam Content
The USPTO publishes abundant source materials, including especially the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, from which it draws the patent bar's exam questions. While you do not bring materials into the USPTO registration exam, the exam makes the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure available to you during the exam. In that respect, the patent bar exam is an “open book” exam. Exam-prep providers estimate that you may have time to look up answers to ten or more of the fifty questions in each three-hour exam session. But that's only if you are familiar with the Manual, which is thousands of pages in length.
USPTO Registration Exam Issues
Patent Bar Exam Application Issues
The OED's General Requirements Bulletin cautions patent bar applicants about several potential enrollment issues that could result in the denial or rejection of your application. The OED may reject your application if its information is incomplete, the information you provide is inconsistent, the documentation you provide is incomplete, or the documentation you provide contradicts your application information. Given the extensive information and documentation the application form requires around both the educational requirements and the good character demonstration, the Bulletin clearly indicates that application issues and denials are common. Take pains to be as accurate and complete as possible. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you face application issues requiring that you petition for reconsideration.
Patent Bar Exam Scheduling Issues
The typical ninety-day window you have from your patent bar application's approval until you must complete the exam at a Prometric testing center can create scheduling issues. You may have work demands, dependent care demands, travel demands, or illness, injury, and disability issues. You may also miss a scheduled exam for any of a number of emergency reasons. While the OED's General Requirements Bulletin indicates that a ninety-day extension may be possible, you should not assume that the OED will grant an extension without your documented petition showing good cause. Retain attorney advisor Lento to help you favorably resolve with the OED and Prometric testing center your scheduling issues.
Patent Bar Exam Administration Issues
The OED's General Requirements Bulletin publishes a brief testing center protocol with which you must comply while referring to Prometric's exam procedures. As indicated above, the Prometric testing center at which you take your patent bar exam will have its own rules and procedures with which you must comply. You must first properly identify yourself at the testing site. You must then avoid attempting to take into the testing center any forbidden materials or devices, even innocent-seeming items like electronic earbuds or watches. You must also conduct yourself at the center and during the exam exactly as Prometric proctors require, including following their instructions and not distracting or disturbing other examinees. You must also not remove materials from the testing center or attempt to remember and discuss or record test items. If Prometric proctors believe you have violated test rules and procedures, you may face investigation delaying or barring the release of your passing score. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you face exam misconduct allegations.
Patent Bar Exam Results Issues
The USPTO's Office of Enrollment and Discipline indicates that you should see your unofficial patent bar exam results on your Prometric testing terminal as soon as you finish the exam. But those results are only unofficial. The OED should mail your official results to you within about five business days. If you do not receive official results within a reasonable time, you may be under OED investigation for irregularities in your application, exam misconduct, or other issues. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you suspect an unreasonable delay in your exam results because of a disciplinary investigation or as soon as you learn of such an investigation.
Patent Bar Exam Retest Issues
37 CFR § 11.7(b)(1)(ii) grants a failing examinee the right to take a patent bar exam retest after a thirty-day waiting period. Don't delay unreasonably in applying for a retest, or you may have to resubmit your application and requalify for the exam, especially if you wait more than one year. You qualify for a retest through OED, not the Prometric testing center. Retain attorney advisor Lento if you face issues qualifying for your retest.
USPTO Registration Process Issues
Passing the patent bar exam does not complete your USPTO registration process. The OED's General Requirements Bulletin indicates that further review of your good character and reputation, beyond the information on your application, takes place after your passing exam results. The OED solicits public information on your character and reputation. If the OED receives adverse information in response, the OED may delay or bar your registration as a patent practitioner. Character and reputation issues can easily derail patent bar registration. Retain attorney advisor Lento to help you address those issues for your best possible outcome.
Retain Premier Attorney Advisor Services
Patent bar exam and registration issues can prevent your USPTO patent practice. Exam and registration issues can also trigger disturbing collateral consequences, affecting your reputation, employment, and career. Retain premier national education attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Team for the best outcome to your USPTO registration exam issues. Attorney advisor Lento has helped hundreds of students and professionals nationwide successfully resolve their education, registration, and certification issues. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now.
