2023 BIPLA Comment on Expanding Criteria for Admission to Practice

The Patent Office Practice Committee of the Boston Intellectual Property Law Association authored a January 2023 Response to USPTO Request for Comments regarding proposals to expand the criteria for admission to practice before the Office. The Response supported the USPTO’s proposals to periodically review applicant degrees for inclusion in the “Category A” of degrees that automatically qualify an applicant to sit for the examination for registration to practice in patent cases before the USPTO (commonly referred to as the “patent bar exam”), to allow for computer sciences degrees to so qualify an applicant regardless of whether they are accredited by the Computer Science Accreditation Commission of the Computer Science Accreditation Board or by the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (“ABET”).