A registered patent attorney is exclusively charged with representing inventors before the Patent and Trademark Office. To become a patent attorney, a person must pass the patent bar. Before one can sit for the patent bar, a person must first complete an undergraduate degree in the "sciences." This is rather broadly defined, however, and the PTO has special rules allowing students who have not obtained a science degree but have completed more than 40 hours of science or engineering credits (in specific subjects) to become eligible to sit for the patent bar. The college does not have to be in the United States. Students wishing to become a patent attorney should take all of the courses in the Patent Law sequence. Patent attorneys are expected to know about all of IP; therefore, such students should also take at least the Trademark Law course and perhaps Copyright Law as well. Knowledge regarding international patent law is becoming increasingly important; therefore, students wishing to become patent attorneys should also take International and Comparative IP.
Trademark attorneys do not have to have a science or engineering background. Some trademark attorneys have a technical background, but many do not. Trademark attorneys represent corporations or other owners of trademarks in the prosecution of trademark applications before the Patent and Trademark Office. This process requires lawyers to be skilled in the unique procedural processes of the PTO. Therefore, students interested in trademark law should take all of the Trademark Law sequence of courses. Trademark attorneys are also often called upon to draft licenses for their clients; therefore IP-Licensing is also an important class. As the world becomes more international and the goods or services on which your clients’ trademarks are attached travel through the worldwide market place, International and Comparative IP will also be an important class to take.
Copyright attorneys generally have an extremely diverse practice. Copyright attorneys represent artists, authors, performers, record labels, studios, etc. The list of likely clients for a copyright attorney is long and not necessarily consistent from one attorney to the next. Naturally, the primary concern of a copyright attorney is to protect the client’s creation to the furthest extent possible. Towards these ends, Copyright Law, Copyright Law Advanced, Entertainment Law, and IP-Licensing are very important classes. Many performers or studios also own trademarks; therefore, Trademark Law and Trademark Prosecution could prove to be valuable classes to a Copyright attorney.
Many corporate/commercial attorneys today are called upon to handle intellectual property. This is because most intellectual property is owned by corporations. Therefore, the attorneys representing corporations in mergers and acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and even labor matters are often confronted with intellectual property issues. If you see yourself going into a corporate/commercial practice and want to be up to date on intellectual property matters, you should take IP-Fundamentals (a survey class offered to students who do not expect to make a career in IP), Internet Law, IP-Licensing, and IP in Complex Commercial Transactions.
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