Is a Computer Science Degree too soft for Patent/IP Law? Forum

[Dooky]

Does having a BS in CS make me a competitor for firms looking to hire in the patent/IP field?

My concern is how Computer Science faces versus Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering since it lacks a lot of that hardware background.

[Jchance]

Yes. The order goes EE>CS>>>other types of engineering

[camelcrema]

Depends. A CS degree only makes you eligible to practice before the PTO if it is CSAB or ABET accredited. EE and CE degrees do not have such a requirement. Check the the PTO's General Requirements bulletin.

On a more speculative note, the PTO and Federal Circuit have been pulling back a bit on the patentability of software, so patents for which a CS background would be most useful may be less prevalent going forward. By contrast, you wouldn't run into this issue with an EE degree.

[totesTheGoat]

Does having a BS in CS make me a competitor for firms looking to hire in the patent/IP field?

My concern is how Computer Science faces versus Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering since it lacks a lot of that hardware background.

Real life work experience is more important. I had a BS in computer engineering and 3 years of software engineering work experience before I switched over to work on patent prosecution.

You need to understand the hardware because you will be expected to have an ability to work outside your discipline. My areas of expertise are machine learning and telecom. I've done patent work in those areas, but I've also done tons of work in unrelated areas. If you're not comfortable reading circuit diagrams, talking about doped layers on a semiconductor, and understanding why Client X's dual pipeline benefits their multi-core processor, you're at a disadvantage to the engineers who studied this stuff in school. On the other hand, if you know enough that you can pick it up quickly (my chemistry background is really weak, so I was at an initial disadvantage on semiconductors), you'll prove value beyond your degree.

Your degree (assuming it was accredited at the time you got it) isn't going to be as much of a hindrance to your job prospects (all else being equal, they'll hire engineers over CS, but there are more jobs than applicants at this point). Having work experience outside the little sandboxes in undergrad is much more important.

[Dooky]

Thank you all very much for your insight!

[84651846190]

Just make sure you don't go into Computer Science IP litigation. It's getting crushed at most firms these days--waaaaaay too many lawyers with software patent litigation experience for a very small amount of work. I guess CS prosecution might still be okay, but I have no idea why.

[Desert Fox]

[Desert Fox]

[84651846190]

Just make sure you don't go into Computer Science IP litigation. It's getting crushed at most firms these days--waaaaaay too many lawyers with software patent litigation experience for a very small amount of work. I guess CS prosecution might still be okay, but I have no idea why.

In my experience the CS guys still just generally brand themselves as general tech IP lit. I think the market generally just conflates EE and CS to a large degree.

Though I would be worried if E.D Texas stops defending software patents and the Fed. Cir. keeps upholding MTD on 101 grounds that eventually the market will eventually value CS degrees less.

They will find a way to shut down ED Tex either by legislation or this: http://patentlyo.com/media/2015/10/HeartlandMand.pdf.

[SemperLegal]

Pretty sure you make more money as a programmer than a lawyer these days anyway.

I don't think that's true anymore, not with the advent of $200 coding academies. Of course, a cs degrees, especially one with a serious linguistic or mathematical focus can lend jobs a lot better than programmer.

[Desert Fox]

[SemperLegal]

Pretty sure you make more money as a programmer than a lawyer these days anyway.

I don't think that's true anymore, not with the advent of $200 coding academies. Of course, a cs degrees, especially one with a serious linguistic or mathematical focus can lend jobs a lot better than programmer.

This is definitely not true, at least yet. Maybe eventually coding academies will flood the market, but that hasn't happened yet.

Honestly don't know, I don't code. But my snobby tech friends and boomer-hipster dad (who used computers before they [and he] was cool) seem to think today's programmer is yesterday's "literate."

[skri65]

CS degree here from a non-ABET accredited program (ended up being patent bar eligible anyway). It most definitely makes you a competitor. I ended up going the IP lit route (which in hindsight is indeed more risky) but the Loyola Patent Fair alone left me with multiple prosecution offers from well known firms.