USPTO Registration

Before the summer of 2004, the United States Patent Office registration exam was a pencil-and-paper test administered in 15 locations in the US. The US Patent and Trademark Office has shifted to a computer exam which can be taken on a business day in hundreds of locations throughout the country. The pencil-and-paper exam is still offered once a year at the patent and trademark office. It is an open-book exam intended to gage the patent attorney applicants' knowledge of U.S. Patent Office procedures, ethic rules, federal statues and regulations.

Law students who pass the erroneously termed "patent bar" registration exam and become admitted as patent agents are permitted to be titled as a registered patent attorney. Patent lawyers can practice before the USPTO in patent litigation.