“THE PATKEY SHOW” is a YouTube episode series for people who have a keen interest in Indian Patent Agent Examination.
This show is hosted by Cheshta Sharma and Kirtiman Sharma.
Transcript:
Kirtiman
Hello and welcome to The Patkey Show. And today’s questions are:
Q1. How many hours of study are required to clear the patent agent examination?
Q2. Can I prepare for it by reading material on the Patent Office of India website?
Q3. Is reading Patent Act 1970 enough to pass the Examination?
Welcome to The Patkey Show where we talk about patent agent examination and also tell you the tips and tricks to qualify it. I am Kirtiman Sharma.
Cheshta
I am Cheshta Sharma.
Kirtiman
So Cheshta, let’s get into the first question.
Cheshta
Sure.
Kirtiman
How many hours of study is required to qualify the patent agent examination?
Cheshta
That’s a good question. So patent agent examination syllabus. Good thing is it’s not that vast. It is a limited syllabus that you have to read and interpret. Patent act 1970. If you follow a proper discipline for 90 days and you study 1 hour every day, that means 90 hours. I think that is a good enough time to understand practice for the Indian patent agent Examination 2022.
Kirtiman
All right, so 1 hour per day, you’re saying?
Cheshta
Yeah, 1 hour per day is a good amount of time.
Kirtiman
But how much duration? What is the duration?
Cheshta
90 days, 1 hour. Each date is due to time.
Kirtiman
Okay. So by that you can judge the amount of labour that is required. So if you don’t have when you’re watching this video, if you don’t have 90 days to prepare for the examination, you can just multiply the number for hours and increase the number of hours per day.
Cheshta
Yeah. Let’s say if you’re a working professional. So you have like working days Monday to Friday, then Saturday and Sunday, you can devote time like 2 hours, 3 hours. So accordingly you can plan a total hours. 90 hours is enough to atleast do the service once, then revise twice. In practice, this much time is enough for like 90 days is good enough time.
Kirtiman
All right, so the next question, Cheshta is can I prepare for the examination by reading material on the Patent Office of India website?
Cheshta
That’s a good question. Patent Office of India has a lot of resources to start off with. They have patent act 1970, which is free to download. Law of India,free to download. They have patent rules. They also have guidelines of Indian Patent Office. They have all the previous year question paper, not the answer. They have question paper. So that is the material. But I don’t think so. That is enough. Why? Because if you download the PDF, the patent act1970 original text from the Patent Office website, there is no interpretation to that. There are no examples to that. It is not written in a simplified language. It is written in a language that all claims should point towards single concept as per section this, refer to rule number this. So, you will be turning pages on and off leading acts, trying to find which is the rule, which is the form so they are not interconnected because this is a structure of our law. It’s Constitution of India, with due respect, but for the understanding of the concept. I always say to my students and my mentor that legal text should not be the first thing that you should be reading. First is reading the basic concept that what is patent, what is unity of invention?
Cheshta
What are the types of patent application? To give you few examples, then move on to reading the legal text. So the material is good to start with. Of course, that is the most important material.
Kirtiman
That’s the basic material.
Cheshta
Yeah, that’s a basic material.
Kirtiman
I can see that’s the basic material. And that is, of course, if you are able to understand that, you’re almost good to go because that does not include patent and drafting. But you’re almost good to go, at least for paper one. But the point is, see, the lawyers, they are trained for years to read that text. We are science people, we can only these are the people who are only eligible to give the patent agent examination. And they are not trained to read those things and grasp them in one go. All right. So the next question is, is reading patent at 1970 enough to pass the exam?
Cheshta
I will say yes and no. How yes and no. Yes. Paid in act. 1970 is enough because entire examination is based on that. But just reading an act will not suffice. Why? No. One, you need to understand in detail interpretation of each and every sentence and even a single word. You have to understand each and every single word of it. That what does it mean? Number two, it’s not just passing the examination. Actually, when you pass the examination, you are starting a new career. So you will be practicing as a patent agent. So I always recommend find a mentor, find somebody who can really help you out, because ultimately you have to practice. You will get real clients and you have to help them get the patent. So you have to be very thorough. Okay. If some client approaches to you, you should be able to tell them at one go, that form number one, two, 3526 are required.
Kirtiman
And this is even the lawyers. Yeah. So even the lawyers do apprenticeship under a senior lawyer.
Cheshta
Right.
Kirtiman
So they were trained for years for reading and understanding law, and they also do internships under senior lawyers. That’s like compulsory. It’s not compulsory, but it’s like unsaid compulsory.
Cheshta
Yeah. Just for all the professions, you are becoming a doctor. You will practice under some if you’re a lawyer, you’re Chartered accountant or architect, you will always practice. You have to find a mentor.
Kirtiman
Mentor. Yeah. So that’s definitely there. But I want to defer at one point from you, Cheshta, that you said that yes and no. And you saying yes because the entire examination is based on patent act 1970 back. I would defer to say that it is not based completely on the reason why I’m saying is, see, this exam is based on that you understand patent act 1970 and are able to implement it in real life situations because a patent agent is not a lawyer. He’s a science person who understands law also. And they are helping other inventors to generate the IP. Generating IP means they are filing the IP, they’re filing for a patent. So the consulting part which comes into the Viva-voice section because I’m seeing increasingly in the Viva-voice book specifically. So we get the Viva-voice questions from all our students who have appeared for the patent examination. They come and tell us the Viva-voice because the papers we get but the Viva-voice questions we have to ask our students who appeared for the Vivo voice. And increasingly what I’m seeing is the questions are becoming more practical. They are more like real life scenarios.
Kirtiman
So that’s why I’m saying that, yes, even though it is based on patent act 1970, but based on the interpretation of it and how you are able to use it to help other science people who don’t understand a single word of patent.
Cheshta
Yeah, I 100% agree with your opinions. It’s absolutely right. And even not only Viva-voice. If you pick up the question paper which was like ten years ago to the question paper which was of last exam, you will see a huge difference in which the kind of practical questions being asked. So we are doing a good job because ultimately in a real life situation you have to face a practical problem. So kudos to the patent office that they are doing their best to produce quality, patent professionals of the future and I’m sure you’re going to be one of them.
Kirtiman
And if you really think you are going to be one of them and are preparing for this examination this year or the next year, I suggest you go through the masterclass which we have prepared for you. It’s a free masterclass. The link is down below in the description. You’re going to know about all the tips and tricks and your career options and how you can go about preparing for the examination. You can ask live Q and A’s and everything. Please go through the masterclass and again, also if you have any more questions just like this, these are the questions picked from the comments. If you have any more questions for us to answer, please ask them in the comment below. This is Kirtiman Sharma.
Cheshta
And this is Cheshta Sharma. Thank You!!
