When we think of lawyers, we often think of people arguing a case in court. That’s pretty much the job of a barrister – other lawyers don’t actually appear in court so much.
IP is a world of intrigues and innovations, breakthroughs and break-ups. Somebody needs to tell these stories – sometimes to the people who work in the sector; sometimes to the businesses, scientists and artists who need to understand it; and sometimes to the wider world.
A solicitor gives legal advice to clients and represents them in negotiations or disputes.
A patent examiner who works at the European Patent Office (EPO) performs a similar job to a UK patent examiner who works at the UK Intellectual Property Office.
Working at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO), a patent examiner decides whether applications for patents can be granted.
See also our entries about trade mark examiners and formalities examiners.
If you invent something, how do you know no one else has thought of it before? How do you find out if it’s new enough to be patentable, or if someone else already has a patent that could prevent you using it? – You need a patent searcher.
Note that there are also searchers who do a similar job, but analysing trade mark rights instead of patents and inventions. For this work, you would not need a science degree.
Patents can be complicated and technical, and they need to be understood by people all over the world. In order to translate them into other languages, technical translators obviously need to be linguistic wizards (they always translate into their mother tongue), but they also need to understand the often cutting-edge science in the patents – as well as the associated legal terms.
A lot of the best research goes on in universities. Sometimes, research teams realise they’ve created or discovered something with a wider application. Technology (tech) transfer officers – also known as “knowledge exchange” practitioners – work with research teams and their advisers to commercialise these ideas.
If you own a brand, you want to ensure that no one can cash in on your success by copying the unique features that make it recognisable. A trade mark attorney can help you do that.