Job profile

The demand for Patent Attorneys is growing. As long as invention and innovation exist, Patent Attorneys will be needed to enforce the rights to new ideas. Trained in drafting and prosecuting patents and similar rights and with knowledge of intellectual property law, a Patent Attorney lead individual inventors or companies through the required process to obtain a patent and then act to enforce inventors’ rights if patents are infringed.

The tasks will depend – to some extent – on whether a Patent Attorney is advising clients or employed by a company to protect their products. However, a Patent Attorney typically need to:

• discuss inventions and processes with inventors or manufacturers
• analyze scientific or technical documents, including previously granted patents, to assess whether an invention is new and innovative
• write detailed descriptions of inventions for drafting a patent
• apply for patents at the German Intellectual Property Office (DPMA) and the European Patent Office (EPO)
• prepare responses to reports from patent examiners
• ensure application and renewal deadlines are met
• conduct litigation in proceedings
• advise overseas attorneys on applications for foreign patent applications
• instruct on whether business activities will infringe someone else’s patent rights
• deal with assignments of patent when a patent is sold or transferred

• Law offices
• Corporations

• University studies in natural or technical sciences
• Traineeship in patent law/IP law or professional experience in Patent Law
• Qualifying examinations to represent before German Patent and Trademark Offices and/or European Patent Offices

Abitur (secondary school 12th / 13th grade)

Proficient language skills in German and English in writing and speaking