An Insight Into Trainee Patent Exams

Most of those in the patent attorney profession find the career richly rewarding due to the wide variety of complex legal and technical issues involved in commercialising an invention. However, an unfortunate truth is that to enjoy such an interesting career, a series of exams need to be passed to qualify as a UK and European Patent attorney.

Even by professional exams standards, these exams are extremely difficult with most years seeing multiple exams where less than half of those taking a particular exam end up passing it. A further difficulty and a difference from other professional exams where if you fail there are numerous opportunities throughout the year for resits, the exams a patent attorney needs to pass are only held once a year, meaning that the penalty for an off-day or marginal fail is harsh, as one needs to wait a whole year for a chance to take the exam again.