Patent Attorneys - Patent Attorney

Patent attorneys are licensed by the Patent Authority. Patent attorneys work drafting and editing patents under the Patents Law. Patents Law details criteria for patent attorney licensing. There are also lawyers that are involved in the field of patents, but they are not licensed by the Patent Authority; rather they are licensed by the Bar Association. They are called patent lawyers, and they are general lawyers who also, or only, work in the field of patents. To compare the two professions, patent lawyers are not examined on their patent application writing skills, but patent attorneys are tested on their ability to draft and edit patent applications and on their knowledge of patents law and patent regulations.

Patents Law defines:

[Eligibility for registration in the Register of Patent Attorneys]

142.—(a) If a person meets the following requirements, then he is entitled to be registered in the Register of Patent Attorneys and to receive a patent attorney's license: 

(1) He is an Israel resident; 

(2) One of the following holds true for him: 

(a) He is registered as an engineer in the Register of Engineers and Architects under the Engineers and Architects Law 5718—1958; 

(b) He graduated from an institution of higher education, within its meaning in the Council for Higher Education Law 5718—1958 in one of the professions specified in the Schedule; 

(c) he graduated abroad, at an institution of higher education or a higher technological institute approved for the present purpose by the Minister of Justice after consultation with the Council for Higher Education, in one of the professions specified in the Schedule; 

(3) He has passed the examinations said in section 143 or was exempted from them; 

(4) He performed qualifying service in Israel during not less than two years in the Office of a patent attorney who practices his profession for at least three years, at the Patent Office or in the patent department of an industrial enterprise; 

(5) He paid the prescribed fee. 

(b) The Minister of Justice, with approval from the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, shall be entitled to add to the fields of specialization enumerated in the Second Amendment. 

Clause 143 to the Patent Law states: 

143.—(a) If a person wishes to be registered in the Register of Patent Attorneys, then he must pass an examination in the prescribed manner in order to prove that he has an appropriate knowledge of the Law of patents, designs and trademarks of Israel and in foreign countries and of other relevant enactments, all as prescribed, and that he has command of the Hebrew language and of at least one other language required for his work, as prescribed. 

(b) The examination shall be conducted by two or three examiners, among them not more than one patent attorney, and in each case they shall be selected by the Minister of Justice—or by a person appointed by him for that purpose—from a panel of examiners determined by the Minister. 

(c) The Minister of Justice may exempt categories of candidates from the examination if it can be proved in some other prescribed manner that they possess the knowledge required in an examination under subsection (a).