Role of Patent Professionals

With growing inventions, inventors are gaining prominence and expertise in their field. The main crux lies in the fact that the inventions are there for revolutionizing the field. For such inventions, it is necessary that the inventors gain a full monopoly and they should be able to get utmost profit out of his invention. For this, it is important to understand the relevance of patents. Each inventor wants to have a patent for their invention to recoup the cost of the invention. An inventor who is not sound in legal matters generally ends up making errors in drafting the patent application. Any such prosecution part without assistance will lead to errors which can cost a lot to the patent application.

^{[Image Source: Getty Images]}

Having knowledge concerning the invention in one aspect but this generally doesn’t mean that the applicant is very sound in legal complexities. Without much training and experience, it becomes difficult for the inventor to write a proper patent specification. Without legal knowledge, it becomes difficult to complete the prosecution part. Having a detailed knowledge of the invention is not denied. It becomes necessary on the part of the inventor to get along with an expert who has been in the domain of drafting a patent application. It becomes easier for the applicant to get along with the intellectual property attorneys to help prevent any such situation where it can have a costly affair for them. The assisting attorneys are those who work in the intellectual property firm and those are mostly Patent engineers, patent agents, and patent attorneys who all work together for the best. Let us understand the work of all those professionals.

Patent Engineer

A patent engineer has considerable knowledge in a scientific and technical field even though they are not a lawyer and have not passed the patent bar exam. Even if not have any such qualification, still they perform essential functions. The engineers perform searches and discuss the prior art from the applicant where the applicant will understand that there are those inventions already in the market which perform similarly and can have a direct impact on the feasibility of the invention. This way the inventor will decide about the fact that there is primarily prior art that can be under objection while pursuing the patent application process. The report for the same will be written and be provided to the applicant and a further decision can be made. Moreover, the engineer will work closely for a better understanding of the invention.

Patent Agents

Similar to the patent engineer, the agents also have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to scientific and technical knowledge. With having qualifications such as that of a graduate degree or a Ph.D., they also qualify for the Patent Bar exam before the offices they are practicing such as that of Indian Patent Office or USPTO. Passing the bar exam, they are also qualified to file the patent application. The prosecution part is moreover handled by those agents whereby they don’t tend to provide any legal advice unless they are qualified as a lawyer which in some cases, they are.

Patent Attorney

As written, the attorneys are those having legal degrees. They have the good scientific and technical knowledge and moreover, they move on to have a legal degree where they intend to practice in the court as well. Having a technical degree, they also pass the patent bar exam and become eligible for filing in the patent office. As compared to the agent, attorneys are more costly when it comes to cost worth. Nevertheless, these all professionals are being employed in an IP law firm and it is highly advised to contact the firm for all such matters.

Author: Saransh Chaturvedi an associate at IP And Legal Filings,  in case of any queries please contact/write back us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com.