Intellectual Property Law Courses

George W Schlich, Member of CIPA Council and former Chairman of CIPA’s Education Committee

Training to become a patent attorney involves input from many different sources. These include supervision by a qualified patent attorney, in-house training, lectures and tutorials organised in-house and by the Institute and your own private study. Whilst practical skills are best learned on the job, there is much that can be learned elsewhere – which is where courses in intellectual property (IP) come in, whether before or after joining the profession.

Increasing commercial and academic interest in IP means there are many courses available nowadays where you can learn about patents, trade marks, designs, copyright, etc. From the perspective of the profession, we are all busier than ever and opportunities to learn outside the office are welcome to trainees and to firms. There has been, some would say wrongly, a distinction drawn between IP theory and its practice, with theory being the focus of the (academically taught) courses. In this present section of the guide, I aim to provide a brief overview of the IP courses relevant to a career as a patent attorney.

Why do an IP course?

Let us start with some reasons for you to learn more about IP on a course: perhaps principally to obtain exemption from some or even all of the first round of patent and/or trade mark attorney examinations. We should not, however, restrict ourselves to the examinations in the patent and trade mark profession. There is a serious absence in the UK in general and in industry in particular, of graduates in technical subjects who have relevant knowledge of IP. Such knowledge can be invaluable in smaller enterprises without a separate IP specialist. In other professions, whether management, accountancy, law, business, or otherwise, knowledge of IP is an invaluable asset. With today’s competition for jobs, knowledge of IP might be a vital edge for you. As far as firms of patent attorneys are concerned, IP courses are commonly taken by employed trainees – i.e., after you start work. Nevertheless, if you have relevant experience and/or qualifications in IP before you start work you are showing initiative and may be more attractive to an employer.

Courses available

These range from individual patent modules in, say, chemistry degrees to full-time, year-long courses in the management of IP. There isn’t space in this article to go through all such courses, but details can be obtained from the relevant educational institutes. Using a search engine to look for ‘UK courses in IP law’ is a good start.

There are now several universities with courses which are specifically designed to confer exemption from papers in the first set of patent and trade mark attorney examinations: those run by Queen Mary, University of London (see http://www.ccls.edu/), University of Bournemouth (see http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/), University of Manchester (see http://www.law.manchester.ac.uk/) and Brunel University (see http:// www.brunel.ac.uk).

Other university courses are likely to confer exemptions in future.

Queen Mary College also runs other IP courses, for example a year long MSc in the management of IP. This course is longer than the certificate course and the examination includes an additional paper relating to patents and trade marks. Passing the course in combination with the special paper also confers exemption from the Foundation Level Examinations. The Bournemouth, Brunel, Manchester and Queen Mary courses are regularly reviewed by our Institute and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys.

Exemption from examinations

There are two sets of examinations for UK patent and trade mark attorneys, known as the Foundation Level Examinations and the Advanced Level Examinations. The IP courses being discussed can only confer exemptions from the Foundation Level Examinations, with certificates from the Manchester and Queen Mary courses conferring exemption from all Foundation Level Examinations and a certificate from Bournemouth or Brunel currently providing exemption from most.

Exemptions from one or more of the Foundation Level papers can potentially also be obtained by passes in other degrees or IP courses. Law degrees generally confer exemption from one paper in particular, the law paper. Science degrees with IP modules may, in future, confer some exemptions. I hesitate to be more definite, but I expect that more applications by candidates who have a relevant qualification and who wish to gain at least partial exemption from the Foundation Level Examinations will establish precedents. If you have a degree or other qualification with an IP element, or are thinking of doing one, the Joint Examining Board (JEB – address c/o CIPA) will advise, on demand, whether it confers exemption from any of the examination papers.

Studying a course that has an IP element is likely to leave you in a good position as far as your career and the patent examinations are concerned. One additional comment is needed at this time, which is that the IP courses are, by their nature, focused on knowledge and theory. IP courses can help with the Foundation Level Examinations and may even confer exemptions. The Advanced Level Examinations, on the other hand, are really about skills which you have to learn on the job. I cannot at present see any courses exempting candidates from the Advanced Level Examinations.

Summary

The existing, well-established courses at Bournemouth University, Brunel University, Manchester University and Queen Mary College, London, are specifically designed IP courses, usually taken by trainees in employment, that confer exemption from patent attorney examinations. Taking a course before you start employment may help with finding a job and may be relevant for jobs elsewhere. Increasingly, other IP courses are available at universities, either as stand-alone courses or as part of degrees. Any knowledge of IP gained before making your career decision will likely be attractive to employers, whatever your chosen career.

George W Schlich specialises in stem cell, biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents and is a Chartered Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney and Registered Trade Mark Attorney.