Do I Qualify?

NOTE: On September 22, 2021, the Patent Office announced changes to the requirements to take the Patent Bar Exam. If you have previously researched whether you qualify, note that the changes are in the following 3 areas:

1. Master's and Ph.D. degrees are now accepted, in addition to Bachelor's degrees.

2. The list of degrees has been expanded from 32 to 46, and in addition, degrees demonstrated by your transcript to be equivalent to one of the listed degrees will now be accepted.

3. The requirements for Category B have been relaxed, and only 1 course with a lab component is now required.

You should review Section III of the General Requirements Bulletin pertaining to Scientific and Technical Training Requirements. Make sure that the date on the lower-left corner of the cover page is September 2021 or later.

One of the most common questions we’re asked is “Do I qualify to take the Patent Bar Exam?” The answer can be fairly complex and depend on a number of different factors.

Note that we don’t give the exam, nor do we decide who qualifies. The Office of Enrollment and Discipline, which is part of the Patent Office, sets the requirements and reviews the applications. All of the following information is from the General Requirements Bulletin (GRB), which includes the exam application.

First of all, you must pay a total of $502 to take the exam in 2023.

In some cases it is difficult or even impossible to determine whether you qualify, and the ultimate option is to send in an application and see if it is accepted. There are two drawbacks to this: 1. if you’re declined, your $210 registration fee is refunded, and you don’t have to pay the $183 testing fee, but the USPTO keeps the $110 application fee; and 2. if your application is accepted, this leaves a somewhat short amount of time to study.

You also cannot take the exam if you’ve taken it in the past 30 days (in other words, you can’t take it more than once a month), but you can take it as many times as you need to pass. If you’ve waited more than one year, you must re-submit all of your paperwork (transcripts, etc.) again.

Moral Character Requirements:

Since the Patent Office asks you to report any traffic violations with a fine over $100, we receive questions along the lines of, “I got a ticket 20 years ago but I don’t remember how much it was, and the records are no longer available.” We sympathize, but all we can tell you is DO NOT LIE TO THE PATENT OFFICE. You should include as much information as you can remember, and a statement about why there is no further information available. In the cases we’ve seen, the applicants were asked for more information, and when nothing else was available, were allowed to take the exam.

Legal Education Requirements:

There are no requirements that an applicant has gone to law school or is an attorney. A non-attorney applicant will become a Patent Agent, and an attorney applicant will become a Patent Attorney. The exam is the same, and a Patent Agent will be a Patent Attorney after becoming an attorney and filing the correct paperwork with the Patent Office. Since the purpose of the Patent Bar Exam is to test the applicant’s understanding of patenting and patent law, there are no further requirements in this area. (Note that to practice trademark law, you must be an attorney, but you need not be registered with the Patent Office.)

Technical Education Requirements:

In order to be sure that the practitioner can understand inventions, there are technical education requirements.

There are basically 6 ways to qualify for the exam.

1. Category A Degree: If you have a Bachelor’s, Master's, or Ph.D. Degree in one of the following subjects, you qualify.

If your degree has a similar name but not an exact match, but your transcript demonstrates that it is equivalent to one of the listed degrees, you will still qualify. For example, Molecular Cell Biology may be equivalent to Biology, and Materials Science and Engineering may be equivalent to Materials Science.

A Computer Science degree is a special case; it depends on whether your specific degree is accredited. See note below. If you don’t have one of these degrees, see Category B.

i.
Biology
Biochemistry
Biological Science
Biophysics
Botany
Computer Science*
Electronics Technology
Food Technology
General Chemistry
Genetics
Marine Technology
Materials Science
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Neuroscience
Organic Chemistry
Pharmacology
Physics
Textile Technology
Aerospace Engineering
Aeronautical Engineering
Agricultural Engineering
Bioengineering
Biomedical Engineering
Ceramic Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electrochemical Engineering
Electronics Engineering
Engineering Physics
Environmental Engineering
General Engineering
Genetic Engineering
Geological Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Marine Engineering
Materials Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Metallurgical Engineering
Mining Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Petrolium Engineering
Textile Engineering

ii. *To see if your Computer Science degree is acceptable, look up your college or university on http://www.abet.org.

2. Category B Bachelor’s, Master's, or Ph.D. Degree: Category B has 4 different options. You must have a Bachelor's or higher degree (in any subject) to use this category. Note that only courses with a grade of C- or better can be used. Multiply Quarter Hours by 2/3 to convert to Semester Hours.

i. Option 1: Physics – 24 semester hours in physics. The courses must be for physics majors (for example, physics with calculus, as opposed to physics without calculus.)

ii. Option 2: Biology – 8 combined semester hours in chemistry or physics, plus 24 semester hours in biological sciences. Only biology, botany, microbiology, and molecular biology courses can be used for this option. The 8 hours in chemistry or physics must include at least one course with a lab component, and like Option 1, must be intended for majors in the subject.

iii. Option 3: Chemistry – Option 3 is like Option 1, except that it requires 30 hours of Chemistry courses. Again, only courses for majors are accepted.

iv. Option 4: Science/Engineering – For this option, you need 8 combined hours in chemistry, physics, and/or biology (only courses for majors, and one course must include a lab), and in addition, 32 semester hours in science or engineering courses. These can include: chemistry, physics, biology, botany, microbiology, molecular biology, or engineering. Computer science courses can qualify if they’re technical enough (see the General Requirements Bulletin below for more information). 4 hours in design engineering or drafting can be used. Note that if you have, for example, 12 semester hours in physics or chemistry, you can use 8 of them to meet the first part of the requirement and put the other 4 toward the second part.

Again, only courses for science and engineering majors will be accepted for category B.

a. Note that if you have a Bachelor’s or higher degree, but are a few credits short for one of the above options, you can take some courses at a local community college to qualify. Just make sure that your courses are acceptable before you take them.

b. Note that, under Category B, you must include official course descriptions from the year the course was taken. These are available from the registrar.

3. Training or expertise in one of the subjects in Category A. This is seldom used; see the GRB for more information.

4. Other Education (including Life Experience). We’ve seen very few people apply under this category, and even fewer do so successfully. See the GRB for more information.

5. Military Service: courses taken during military service. These credits must be able to be applied towards a degree at a college or university. See the GRB for more information.

6. Category C: Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam – The qualification requirements for this exam are different in each state. Most states require you to have an engineering degree to take this exam, but Michigan and New Hampshire do not (last we checked). While you may be able to go to one of these states and take the exam, this isn’t to say that it’s easy; in fact, it’s probably more difficult than the patent bar. You also need a Bachelor’s degree in any subject. For more information and preparation courses for the FE exam, see http://ppi2pass.com. Note that we are not affiliated with this company.

If you’re not sure whether your courses will be accepted, the Bulletin has a list of examples of courses which are NOT considered technical enough to be accepted. The following paragraph is from the Bulletin:

The following typify courses that are not accepted as demonstrating the necessary scientific and technical training: anthropology; astronomy; audited courses; behavioral science courses such as psychology and sociology; continuing legal education courses; courses in public health; courses relating technology to politics or policy; courses offered by corporations to corporate employees; courses in management, business administration and operations research; courses on how to use computer software; courses directed to data management and management information systems; courses to develop manual, processing or fabrication skills (e.g. machine operation, wiring, soldering, etc.); courses taken on a pass/fail basis; correspondence courses; ecology; economics of technology; courses in the history of science, engineering and technology; field identification of plants and/or animals; home or personal independent study courses; high school level courses; mathematics courses; one day conferences; patent law courses; paleontology; political science courses; repair and maintenance courses; radio operator license courses; science courses for non-science majors; vocational training courses; and work study programs. Also not accepted are college research or seminar courses where the course content and requirements are not set forth in the course descriptions; and courses that do not provide scientific and technical training. Further, not accepted are courses that repeat, or which are substantially the same as, or are lesser-included courses for which credit has already been given.

Foreign Applicants (not US citizen or permanent resident)

We receive many questions from foreign applicants wanting to take the exam. These fall into two categories: whether they qualify to take the exam, and if they do, what documentation is required.

Besides meeting the educational requirements, there are citizenship requirements. If an applicant is not a US citizen or permanent resident (green card), there are very limited options to qualify to take the exam.

An alien residing in the United States may be granted permission to take the exam if he or she is admitted to the country to work in activities related to patent procurement. The applicant’s visa documentation must specifically state that they are admitted to the US to do or be trained to do patent work, and the applicant should include copies of all documentation.

For the most part, this means that the applicant must be sponsored by an employer to work in the specialty occupation of patent prosecution. Note also that the applicant won’t become registered as a patent practitioner, but only given limited recognition which expires when he or she leaves the country.

There is reciprocity with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). A person who is registered before CIPO to handle patent cases and living in Canada may submit an application to the USPTO and be registered to represent Canadian citizens and practice in patent cases before USPTO.

Foreign Degrees

Another common question is asked by someone who otherwise qualifies (US citizen, green card, or special work visa) but has a foreign degree.

For the most part, the same qualifications apply, but with some additional requirements.

The applicant must have an official, original transcript. If the transcript is not in English, the applicant must also include a translation along with a certification from the translator that it’s a literal translation.

In some cases, the applicant must also include a report from a company which establishes the equivalency of the courses taken.

More Help

If you’re still not sure whether you qualify, you should carefully read the General Requirements Bulletin linked above. If you are still unsure or don’t understand the bulletin, you can email us at director@patbar.com. In addition, you can call the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), which is the department of the Patent Office that administers the exam. Note that they won’t answer questions about whether you qualify, but will only tell you that you need to apply and see if you are accepted. Their number is (571) 272-4097.