We are glad to bring to you a guest post by Dr. Feroz Ali Khader. Dr. Ali is the MHRD IPR Chair Professor at IIT Madras and as a part of the Chair activity, he is offering a free course to provide training for taking the Patent Agent Examination 2016, which is scheduled to take place on November 27, 2016.
Taking the Patent Agent Exam Seriously
Dr. Feroz Ali Khader
On the face of it, the Patent Agents don’t seem to be taken seriously, as a profession, that is. Since the Patents Act, 1970 has been in force, there has been only about 1879 registered patent agents who seem to be interested in continuing with the trade. They are a group of professionals who are required to have a background in science to take a two-part exam on “patent law”. Even after their qualification, a patent agent who has a background in physics will, if called upon, patiently draft a patent covering an invention in biotechnology. And the Patent Office too has not taken the qualifying exam seriously. How else can we explain the three-year hiatus in conducting the exam!
All that is now set to change. The National IPR Policy tells us that the Patent Agent Exam will now be conducted regularly (once every three years is also regular, some may argue). The exam is scheduled to happen on 27th November, 2016 and there seem to be some buzz happening around it. And we now have a free course to help you to take the Patent Agent Examination.
As a part of the IPR Chair activity, I have complied a series of video lectures in the form of a free course titled the Foundations of Patent Law. I have also planned an open house session for doubt clearing before the exam. Those interested can register here.