USPTO registration examination

In order to be registered as a patent agent or patent attorney in the United States, one must pass the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) registration examination, officially called the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and known informally as the patent bar.

Persons who pass the registration exam and become admitted as patent agents before admission to a state bar are allowed to change registration to patent attorney upon supplying the USPTO with proof of good standing in a state or territorial bar.

The examination is intended to measure the applicant's familiarity with USPTO procedures, ethics rules, federal statutes, and regulations. The applicant is allowed to use an electronic copy of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) in the computer-based examination and a paper copy of the MPEP in the pencil-and-paper test but no other material. A large number of questions typically deal with the proper drafting and handling of a U.S. patent application or international application.

The exam is a 100-question, six-hour, multiple-choice test. The test is divided into morning and afternoon sections. The applicant is provided 3 hours to complete 50 questions in the morning, and another 3 hours to complete 50 questions in the afternoon.

The exam contains 10 beta questions which do not count towards the exam taker's final score, but there is no way to know which of the 100 questions are among these 10 ungraded questions. The required score to pass is 70%, or 63 correct out of the 90 graded questions. Statistics from examinations administered from June 9, 2005 through October 17, 2006 show that 58.2% of the 4,165 candidates passed the exam (based on MPEP 8th Edition, Revision 2).

Before June 2004, the USPTO registration exam was a pencil-and-paper test given at approximately 15 locations around the country. The USPTO has moved to a computer-based examination which can be taken on any business day at any of several hundred Prometric locations around the country. A sample computerized exam is available to provide a feel for how the exam is administered, but this "practice exam" contains no sample questions. Once an applicant has been approved to sit for the exam, he or she has 90 days in which to schedule an examination date with Prometric. The pencil-and-paper test is still offered once a year at the USPTO's office.

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