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Topic: Working for the USPTO (Read 449576 times) |
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newb
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Re: Working for the USPTO
« Reply #1170 on: Jul 24th, 2007, 6:22pm » |
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Wow JD sounds like you have some insecurities. Please correct me if I am wrong but the state CLE requirements are not specific to the field of patent law. I therefore do not understand why state CLE requirements should circumvent any attorney from being required to update their knowledge and understanding of the field of patent law, if they are a practicing patent attorney. I thought the purpose of CLE classes was to 1) ensure that practicing attorneys are updating their knowledge of constantly changing regulations and 2) to give the public/clients assurance that their attorney is competent. If these are some of the reasons to require state CLE then why would it be absurd to think that the PTO also wants to ensure the agents /attorneys practicing patent law are competent. Or are you saying the amount of classes one would have to take to fulfill both the state CLE requirements and any potential PTO CLE requirements would be unreasonable? 
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Anastasia Beaverhausen
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Re: Working for the USPTO
« Reply #1171 on: Jul 24th, 2007, 7:30pm » |
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I'm a JD examiner at the PTO and I totally agree with "JD". Patent attorneys will be on top of their game, especially given KSR and its aftermath. The "legal training" that the PTO provides for examiners is largely "dumbed down" for the benefit of the examiners, the vast majority of whom have no formal legal training.
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JD2
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Re: Working for the USPTO
« Reply #1172 on: Jul 24th, 2007, 8:10pm » |
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I'm a JD examiner as well, and there are some incompetent practicing attorneys. Sometimes I feel sorry for the client, but as an examiner we cannot give our personal or professional opinions on the competence of an attorney, but "thetruthandthewholetruth" is somewhat correct.
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Isaac
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Re: Working for the USPTO
« Reply #1173 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 6:48am » |
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on Jul 24th, 2007, 8:10pm, JD2 wrote:| I'm a JD examiner as well, and there are some incompetent practicing attorneys. Sometimes I feel sorry for the client, but as an examiner we cannot give our personal or professional opinions on the competence of an attorney, but "thetruthandthewholetruth" is somewhat correct. |
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Of course there is some truth in what "thetruthandthewholetruth" said, which was nothing more than that there is no mandatory means for making sure patent attorneys stay current.
It is the case however, that patent attorneys tend to use state required CLE hours to stay current on patent law topics, so the addition of a PTO requirement wouldn't accomplish as much as some might think. Further, a significant part of attorney/agent objection to PTO re-certification was opposition to a fairly hefty annual fee to cover the cost of administering the program. Is it really so strange that people might object to paying an additional annual fee to have a second organization track their CLEs?
In short, I don't think it's fair to use the objection to recertification as evidence of reluctance by practitioners to keep current. I personally spend a significant amount of time (way more than any CLE requirement) reading new case law, participating and giving patent law related presentations, discussing the law with my coworkers. The firm I work for demands that I keep current.
Are some practitioners incompetent? Undoubtably. Have some failed to keep up with changes in the law? Surely. But I don't think that's enough to cast aspersions on practitioners as a group.
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| « Last Edit: Jul 25th, 2007, 6:51am by Isaac » |
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Isaac
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cdawg12345
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Re: Working for the USPTO
« Reply #1174 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 6:38am » |
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Hi all,
I have a question on the USPTO salary table. Let's say that you are hired at GS-9, Step 8 ($68,471). I assume that you progress to GS-9, Step 9 and then GS-9, Step 10. How long do each of these steps take? Also, is GS-11, Step 5 the next step after GS-9, Step 10? This is the next highest salary in the table.
Thanks! 
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