Re: NEC-LIST: Patents

-----Original Message-----
> Just remember: Most patent attorneys finished in the bottom 10% of
> their engineering class, and patent examiners are patent attorneys who
> couldn't make it in the profession. Do the math.
>
> Chris

Nonsense.

Speaking on behalf of myself, as a senior engineer and a registered patent
agent/attorney, hiring an attorney is just like hiring any other
professional to do custom work for you. Ask around!! Ask for references!!
Ask them for a sample patent application they wrote for another client in
the same field of technology!! Don't just assume that they are an expert in
your field of science; they're not.

I understand the frustration that comes from working with an incompetent
attorney or patent examiner. That said, you wouldn't hire a contractor to
come remodel your home without asking for references and a price quote. Why
would you hire an attorney without checking out their areas of competence
first?

As for patent examiners being "patent attorneys who couldn't make it..."
that's total nonsense. Very few patent examiners are attorneys. Most are
engineers and scientists who have never set foot inside a law school. To be
fair, there is a huge incentive for the most competent examiners to leave
the patent office and get jobs in private practice where they can make
significantly more money, but there is a world of difference between being
an examiner and being an attorney. The few examiners that are attorneys are
usually just trying to get a few years of experience before leaving for
private practice.

I have been an electrical engineer for about fourteen years and a patent
agent/attorney for several years as well. During that time I worked as a
patent examiner for the patent office, and worked as an associate for a big
law firm in DC. And I can fit the names of every competent patent attorney
that I've known on a single 3" x 5" index card (maybe a match book if I
write small).

You need to shop around. There's no substitute for putting in a little
effort to find somebody competent *before* you spend $$$ and months of time
trying to get a patent with an attorney who doesn't understand your work.

Regards,

Michael Pender

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