Author Archive
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
openIPsource and the “Patent Bar”
What is the Patent Bar?
To become a practicing patent attorney or patent agent, one must pass the USPTO registration examination, most often referred to as the “Patent Bar”. The test is a 100-question, multiple choice test requiring a score of at least 70% to pass. On average, only 40% of examinees actually get this score. The test grabs questions out of the MPEP, or Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, which contains all of the USPTO rules and regulations.
It’s been recommended to me that I pass the test before I start law school, since I have more “free time” now than I will when I start school. Ahhhh…free time. Yeah right.
But having just shelled out a bunch of cash on the Kaplan LSAT review course, I can’t bear to spend more on a patent bar review. There are quite a few out there, and they range from study-at-home material for $300 to one-week courses for $2500. But when I was googling for more information, I found a site offering Patent Bar review material for free!
openIPsource describes itself as "a FREE comprehensive study course to successfully pass the Registration Examination for Patent Attorneys and Agents; otherwise known as the patent bar." I was naturally pretty doubtful at first, but it seems like a great resource. The creators, Stanford University graduates named Brett and Brad Krueger, felt that “education should be available for free to those who can’t afford the exorbitant prices of commercially available training”. I agree completely!!
OpenIPsource has the following items:
- Annotated MPEP
- Comprehensive MPEP Summary
- List of Important Dates
- Detailed Glossary
- MPEP Table of Contents and Index
- Past Exam Questions by MPEP Chapter
- Past Exams since 1999
- Study Guide
- Patent Laws and USPTO Rules
Tomorrow night is my last Kaplan class, and Saturday is the LSAT, which I’ll be taking here in Syracuse as LeMoyne College. I’m spending today, tomorrow, and Thursday doing some last-minute studying/review, and then I’m taking Friday off to sleep in and relax. I’ve been averaging in the mid to upper 160’s, and I figure I’ll do pretty well on the test.
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by thisbiochemicallife
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
Katrina
Here is a picture of Katrina approaching the Gulf Coast. I noticed it on Mark VandeWettering’s blog today.
You can click here to get a larger version, and zoom in to as far as 250m per pixel. This is the 1km/pixel version.
