The Israel Patent Office has informed that henceforth, details of examination dates for candidate patent attorneys will only be published on the Official Patent Office website.
COMMENT
From a quick look at the register, I note that there are only about 173 licensed practitioners that have the three years’ post licensing experience to mentor trainees. Since the previous commissioner, Dr Meir Noam, required registration of trainees, the Israel Patent Office has contact details of potential candidates. The Israel Patent Office also has a mailing list that one can subscribe to.
In consequence of the above three facts, it seems fairly trivial for the Israel Patent Office to effectively actively inform all mentors, candidates and their mailing list of exam sittings. It seems a pity to think that someone might miss a sitting through not avidly monitoring the website, whose links often don’t work properly, and whose layout keeps changing.
Although according to regulations, the Exams should take place three times a year, in practice, they occur just under twice a year. There is frequently insufficient notice. This development favors the bigger firms with many trainees, who can more easily see what’s happening. It discriminates against the hardy perennials who keep failing and may not be monitoring the patent office website.
Being a good Samaritan, literally – living as I do in Samaria – I will endeavor to keep my readers informed!
