How to judge the professional ability of patent agents

1. The ability to ask the right questions usually leads to technical disclosure. The hardest thing is to watch it several times but don't know where to communicate. Therefore, the first step should be to learn to ask questions. There are many problems in understanding technical solutions. It is possible that the technical disclosure book gives many technical details, such as the functions called by programming, but you have no idea what the technical solution itself is to achieve. This is a common phenomenon because inventors pay attention to technical details. It is possible that there is a logical contradiction in the technical scheme described by the inventor, or the inventor has not described the premise of realizing the technical scheme. All kinds of problems need patent agents to find and put forward corresponding problems. How to ask questions is a critical thinking. This ability needs constant cultivation. There are many books introducing critical thinking methods abroad, and the most famous one is a book called Learning to Ask Questions. In the final analysis, this is a kind of thinking ability. Need to be fundamentally cultivated. However, the cultivation of this basic ability is often neglected. 2. Information gathering ability Although patent agents represent all patents in their professional fields, even in a professional field, there are many sub-fields, most of which may be completely beyond the professional fields of patent agents. In order to communicate the technical scheme with the inventor, it is definitely necessary to know some background knowledge. Of course, it doesn't matter if you have the cheek to say "I don't know anything". To understand the background knowledge, it involves the ability to collect information. More precisely, it is the ability to quickly collect information on specific topics. What information was collected? The most important thing is the overall technical framework of this project, because the overall technical scheme is to improve a point in a technical framework, and understanding the overall framework is helpful to understand the role of the improvement point in the whole technical framework. This is particularly evident in the field of communication. From the overall situation of the communication network to each specific point, it is easier and deeper to understand than directly from one point. In addition, collecting enough information not only helps to understand the technical scheme, but also provides a basis for the arrangement of claims. For example, by clearly understanding the interaction process of devices in the communication network and knowing which devices have realized which functions, we can avoid writing the technical characteristics of different execution subjects to one execution subject. How to collect information? On the one hand, you need to master certain retrieval skills. The simplest is direct Baidu search, and the basic information is on Baidu Encyclopedia. On the other hand, we should cultivate the habit of sorting out information and sort out some good information sources, such as technical forums. Next time, find something similar and bring it directly instead of not knowing where to start. Maybe you will say, you just need to make sure that there is no logical problem in the technical scheme, so why do you know so much? What can I do if you say so? 3. Communication ability This involves communication in different professional fields, and it is necessary to consider communication methods from the perspective of the other party. As for communication, everyone has his own experience, so I won't say much here. From clarity to standardization As mentioned above, clarity to standardization involves authorization and rights protection. First, it meets the requirements of the patent law and the review guide; second, it refers to court cases and writes out patents that can be used to protect rights and facilitate rights. To do this, we need to constantly sort out and learn cases. 1. Establish the examination case knowledge base. The Patent Law and the Patent Examination Guide are both theoretical things, but there is a certain distance between theory and practice. What fills this distance is a real case, that is, a specific case. Although many cases have been done, they are basically done by feeling. So it seems that I have experienced it, but I have not formed my own understanding. The reason should be that there is no thinking and summary. The establishment of case base is helpful to summarize and improve the thinking speed, because through sorting, problems can be classified, and each type of problem has corresponding cases as reference. One is to sort out the replies to the review opinions. You can classify the answers to the evaluation opinions according to your own side. After classification, record the questions, reply ideas and review results of each case. In the long run, a rich case base can be formed. If it is a company-wide arrangement, the effect will be better. In this way, people with less experience can also solve practical problems by looking up the case base. The other is the arrangement of invalid cases. If there may be problems in the reply to the review opinions, the trial of invalid cases is undoubtedly more professional and therefore more referential. Every day, you can take time to read invalid judgments on the website of the Patent Reexamination Board, sort out the problems involved in each judgment, and think about the enlightenment these cases bring to writing. 2. Establish a knowledge base of litigation cases. Most patent agents are from engineering and may not pay much attention to patent infringement litigation. However, patent infringement litigation is an important factor, if not the most important, to test the quality of patent writing. Through reading, we can understand the basic content of patent infringement litigation. Many books will introduce patent litigation, such as Detailed Explanation of China Patent Law, explaining the patent law one by one; "Protection of patent right" introduces all aspects of patent infringement litigation; Principles and Cases of Patent Law discusses all aspects of patent infringement with a large number of cases. The court issues typical cases every year. These typical cases often involve issues that need to be clarified and important issues in patent infringement litigation. Therefore, analyzing typical cases is an effective method. In addition, judgments of patent infringement cases can be found on websites such as Intellectual Property Judgment Document Network, China Judgment Document Network and openlaw. You can take time to read a case every day, sort out the cases and think about the influence of each case on patent writing. Long-term arrangement will inevitably form a good database, and then summarize the contents of the arrangement and form your own views. You can understand the basic theory of patent infringement litigation by reading two books, insist on analyzing litigation cases and deepen your understanding of the theory. Guiding patent writing through patent infringement litigation may be more professional than following the existing methods. 3. Analysis of Foreign Patents Foreign patents, especially those of big companies such as Microsoft and Apple, are worth learning from in terms of wording and claim layout. The best way is to analyze those patents that have passed the test of litigation. Major litigation cases will be reported by domestic and foreign media, and the patents involved will generally be pointed out. Download the research and see what enlightenment it has on writing. Take Apple's sliding unlock patent as an example, whether it is the writing of instructions or the typesetting of claims, it may bring inspiration to patent writing. In short, from clarity to standardization, we need to constantly sort out and summarize. Moreover, the two are interrelated, and the requirements of the specification will guide what needs to be clarified.