This tour is to provide a sampling of the training materials that will be available to you if you enroll in PassPatentBar.
The following is a memu showing the selection categories that are available to enrolled students:
- Getting Started
- Introduction to MPEP
- Training Modules
- Examination Tips
- Simulated Exams
- AIA Quizzes
- Recent Q & As
- Preparing for Exam Day
- Helpful Review Notes
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Here are representative samples from each of these categories:
Getting Started
The PassPatentBar Challenge
Given the fact that all of the answers to the paten bar exam can be found in searchable documents that will be made available to you during the exam, and assuming that you, as an engineer, scientist or lawyer are quite experienced in searching documents, you may wonder just how long it would take for you to answer 70% of a 50-question test set (half of the full exam) correctly without first following the study program outlined above .
During the actual exam you will be given only 3 hours to achieve a passing grade of 70% on these 50 questions. However, the PassPatentBar challenge is for anyone to take and pass such a test in less than 12 hour without the benefit of any preparation!
While you are in no way encouraged to take up this challenge, it puts into perspective the importance of the knowledge and skills that you’ll learn by following the PassPatentBar training program. Even if you were able to pass a simulated exam in 12 hours, you would still be a long way from passing the actual Patent Bar exam in 3 hours that is allocated. The PassPatentBar program is the most efficient and cost-effective way to acquire the skills necessary to pass the actual Patent Bar Exam.
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Introduction to MPEP
In the following two sections, you’ll actually conduct several searches of the MPEP to find answers to questions that might appear on the Patent Bar Exam. As a motivation to master these search techniques, imagine yourself in the following situation.
You are taking the morning session of the Patent Bar Exam that consists of 50 questions and you have just finished answering all 50 questions to the best of your ability without looking up anything in the MPEP . When you check the elapsed test time, you see that there is one hour remaining in the 3-hour exam session. You are reasonably sure that you got the answers correct for about 30 questions. But you marked the other 20 questions during the course of the test (using a feature provided by the USPTO) so that you could return to them for further consideration if time permitted.
With only 30, or so, correct answers, your score at moment would be around 60%. Now, your objective is to search out the correct answers to as many of the 20 questions that you are unsure of in the remaining hour. You are in a race against the clock!!!
You probably won’t have time to search out all of the answers. But, if you have become reasonably skillful, you might be able to find the correct answers to 12 of the 20 uncertain questions – one answer, on the average, every 5 minutes. If so, you’ll end up with around 42 correct answers corresponding to a score of 84%, comfortably above the passing threshold of 70%.
First Search
Continuing with this example, say that the answer you are seeking is to the question:
According to 37 CFR 1.58, what are the preferred font types to be used in tables that appear in patent applications? The most direct way to find the answer to this question is . . . . . . . .
Training Modules
Overview
You have now reached the heart of PassPatentBar, the Training Modules. There are a total of 29 training modules – one for each of the 27 chapters in the MPEP plus 2 additional modules to cover recent supplemental materials prepared by the USPTO. These supplemental materials have not yet been added to the MPEP, but they will be covered in your Patent Bar Exam.
You can reach each module by navigating from the Table of Contents for the MPEP and the Supplements at the end of this section. When you finish a module, you should click the “Check Box” on the Table of Contents. This will cause the background color for this module (chapter) to turn green to help you keep track of your progress.
Before starting the first module, it is worth noting that there is a considerable variation in the lengths of the MPEP chapters. The page count for each chapter is shown in the Table of Contents, below, for your information. You will see that the shortest chapter, Chapter 16 – Plant Patents, is only 10 pages long, while the longest one, Chapter 7 – Examination of Applications, is 327 pages. The lengths of the corresponding training modules have a similar variation.
Based on past experience, the number of questions on the actual Patent Bar Exam for each chapter is roughly proportional to the chapter’s length. Using this approximate guide, one can conclude that around one third (33%) of the total number of questions will come from the three longest chapters:
- Chapter 7 – Examination of Applications
- Chapter 18 – Patent Cooperation Treaty (Covering International Applications)
- Chapter 21 – Patentability.
In fact, the actual percentage may be closer to 50% due to the importance placed by the USPTO on the content of these 3 chapters.
Components of Training Modules
Each training module is made up of three components:
- Summary
- Selected Questions & Answers
- In-Depth Review.
In developing PassPatentBar, it was decided to keep the chapter Summaries relatively brief and to the point followed by questions on the chapter that, in most cases, have been reported to appear multiple times on recent Patent Bar Exams. (So, these are, indeed, very important questions.) The objective here is to keep your focus on answering relevant questions. The inclusion of the In-Depth Review will round out your perspective after you have had the opportunity to review the questions. Any struggles you experience in answering the questions may help to keep your focus during the subsequent In-Depth chapter review.
After each question, you’ll be encouraged to search out the answer in the MPEP unless you have already learned the answer from reading the Summary.
At the conclusion of each question, you will frequently find a comprehensive analysis of not only the correct answer choice but also an explanation for why the other choices are incorrect. Even if you selected a correct answer, you are strongly encouraged to study the answer analysis because it will give you a deeper insight into possible related questions that may appear in the future.
Before going on to the next chapter’s training module, it is recommended that you click on the “In-Depth Review”. This will bring up a copy of the current chapter from the MPEP. But, rather than grinding through the entire chapter, your attention will be directed to only a limited number of paragraphs that have been highlighted in yellow to facilitate your review.
While the “In-Depth Review” chapter reviews may be considered optional for someone who is already familiar with the MPEP, it is strongly recommended for all others that you complete this review in order to gain a better feel for the overall composition of the MPEP.
For example, you will see first hand that a substantial portion of the MPEP text provides instructions for patent examiners. Since this material is not particularly relevant to passing by the Patent Bar Exam, it is not highlighted. So, you can skip right by it. You’ll also see that there is considerable redundancy with Laws and Rules repeated verbatim in the text and then elaborated upon in the discussion that follows. Concentrating on the yellow highlighting will help you avoid many of these redundancies. . . . . . . . . . . .
Examination Tips
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3. Most of the exam questions will require you to select the truly correct answer from a series of five choices. However, not infrequently, you come across questions that conclude by saying something like “all of the following answers are correct, except ” or “which of the following are not in accordance with the rules of the USPTO?”. In such cases the words “except” or “not” will not be in a bold face. Nevertheless, you will have to shift your state of mind to select the truly incorrect answer.
In situations like this, you must be very disciplined because it is easy to overlook the words “except” or “not” while reading the first answer choice. And if you recognize that this choice is truly correct you may be inclined to select it and proceed to the next question.
Many students may get up to five or more questions wrong on their first few practice tests that they take not because they did not know the material being tested but because they got tripped up on the requirement to select a truly incorrect answer in certain instances.
4. Some students have more difficulty than others in shifting their focus back and forth from searching for truly correct to truly incorrect answers. Stress goes up and testing efficiency is reduced.
This problem will be exacerbated if the student is unsure of the truly correct answer, requiring that multiple factors have to be juggled at once – which is the truly correct answer? – does this question require the selection of the truly correct or truly incorrect answer? From that point, the mind can wonder to other questions like – how long until this test is over?
If you recognize that you are affected in this way, here is a tip to work around it. . . . . . . . . .
Simulated Exams
Each simulated test that the student takes will consists of a series of 50 questions randomly drawn from a MASTER QUESTION BANK of approximately1000 questions . The exams will be immediately graded and scored at the conclusion of each test. (You will also receive an e-mail after each exam containing your test results so that you can review the Q & As as well as any mistakes that you may have made at a later time – without printing a hard copy.)
A small 3-hour count-down timer will be displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the test screen during the entire testing period. And directly under it will be a selection box that toggles between “Continue” and “Pause” with “Continue” being the default selection. (The purpose for this feature will be to allow you to receive a phone call or have a meal without having the clock run against you.)
Each test will begin with a start page that says:
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This is a close simulation of an actual Patent Bar Examination. There are 50 multiple choice questions to be answered during a 3-hour period. Each question has 5 possible answers, A, B, C, D, and E.
After reading each question and considering all possible answers, click on your selection. Then, select “Next” or “Back” to advance to the next question or return to the previous one. . . . . . . . .
AIA Quizzes
Although the USPTO has not released any patent bar exam questions since 2003, they have very recently released a series of thirteen topical questions and answers (quizzes), listed below, that cover all of the major changes introduced by the AIA. There are a total of 500 new questions with approximately 150 of them devoted to the new topic of First-Inventor-to-File.
Recent Q & As
(Here is a typical Q & A:)
Company X receives patent ‘555 and immediately sues Company A for infringement. Company A counters with a Declaratory Judgment for invalidity of patent. Court says that there is no infringement and no invalidity. Company B brings Ex Parte action against ‘555. However, the USPTO rules that ‘555 stands unchanged. Company C goes to court and requests invalidation of all claims – but loses. Which company or companies are free to take Post Grant action against ‘555?
(A) Company A
(B) Company B
(C) Company C
(D) Companies A and C
(E) Companies A, B, and C
ANSWER: (B)
A person (0r company) who is not the patent owner and has not previously filed a civil action challenging the validity of a claim of the patent may petition for a post grant review of the patent. In this case, both Companies A and C challenged the patent in civil actions. Company B did not.
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Helpful Review Notes
Helpful review notes have been prepared for the following five items:
- Handling of Mail and Papers
- 102 Rejections
- Protests, Interferences, etc.
- Limitations on Patent Office Employees
- Miscelaneous Items
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HELPFUL REVIEW NOTES ON HANDLING MAIL & PAPERS
In addition to hand delivery, there are three ways to forward correspondence to the USPTO. They are:
1. Certificate of Transmission A dated certificate associated with a FAX transmission (May be used for stuff sent from both U.S. and foreign countries.)
The filing date at the USPTO is based on the time sent (not received) or the first working date thereafter.
2. Certificate of Mailing
A dated certificate for mailing in the U.S. only. Includes a statement that there is sufficient postage for U.S. first class mailing
NOTE: Each piece of correspondence requires a dedicated certificate.
(Not accepted for mail from outside the U.S.)
The date on the Certificate of Mailing will be accepted as the basis for determining a timely reply – but it can not be used as the “date of receipt” for a new patent application, etc. The “date of receipt” is the actual date the correspondence was received and stamped by the USPTO.
3. Express Mail Service
Should be sent by USPO using their “Post Office to Address” service.
Express Mail will be considered “filed” on the date stamped by the USPO.
THINGS THAT CAN NOT BE SENT BY FAX
(1) Correspondence requiring an original signature
(2) Certified documents
(3) Correspondence which can not receive the benefit of a Certificate of Transmission. Including:
- Anything that requires a filing date, such as a patent application
- Color drawings
- Correspondence subject to a secrecy order or with secrecy content
- Filing of PCT applications
THINGS THAT CAN BE SENT BY FAX
- Amendments
- Declarations
- Petitions
- Information Disclosure Statements (IDS)
- Terminal Disclaimers
- Notices of appeal & appeal brief
- Request for Continued Examination (RCE)
- Assignment documents
- Issue fee transmittals
- Authorization to charge a deposit account
- Continued Prosecution Applications (CPA) –associated with design patents.
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Preparing for Exam Day
At least a week or two before exam day, you are encouraged to review the test taking tutorial provided by Prometric that is specifically designed for those taking the patent bar exam:
To access this tutorial
click on >>> http://www.prometric.com/demos/uspto/htmldemo/tutpg1.htm <<<
Please note that when you get to the screen showing how to find a word or words in a document, such as an MPEP chapter, the dialog box that is shown will be named “FIND” not “SEACH”.
Although you were encouraged to use the SEARCH feature during most of your training so that you could see the number of “hits” associated with your key word choice, the FIND feature is quite similar to SEARCH. The main difference is that only one hit at a time is displayed. If you are not interested in your first “find”, click “Find Next” until you find what you are looking for.