Japanese Patent attorney exam

Hello, this is Mocco. Today, I will try to write another article in English.

The topic is an overview of the Japanese patent attorney examinations, which 199 people passed just recently.

People who take the exam

As I mentioned in my previous article, lawyers and patent attorneys are completely different qualifications in Japan, and the exams are not related at all.

As for what kind of people take the exam, the overwhelming majority of people take it while working. In particular, not long ago there were many candidates from patent firms, but now there are many candidates working for companies. In this year's exam, more than 50% of all examinees were company employees.

In terms of educational background, many of the applicants have a master's or doctoral degree, accounting for more than 57% of all applicants.　They have the privilege of being exempt from elective courses.　It is said that the level of difficulty of the elective subjects in the Japanese patent attorney examinations varies greatly depending on the subject, so the availability of the exemption system has a significant impact on the pass/fail of the examinations.

Three types of tests and content outline

The first examination

The first examination is a multiple-choice test on Patent Law, Utility Model Law, Design Law, Trademark Law, Unfair Competition Prevention Law, Copyright, Treaties, and others.　This year's pass rate was 11.3%, and 304 people passed the exam.

In the days when I was taking the exam, even if I passed the first exam, if I failed the second exam, I had to take and pass the first exam again the following year. Now, however, there is a system where once I pass the first exam, even if I fail the second exam that year, I am exempted from taking the first exam the following year. This exemption is supposed to be valid for several years.

The second examination

The second examination is a paper-based examination on a total of three subjects: Patent Law (Utility Model Law), Design Law, and Trademark Law.　The above is a required subject for the paper exam. Those who are not exempted for the elective subjects will take the paper examination for the elective subjects on a separate day in addition to this.　Electives include humanities subjects such as civil law, as well as science subjects such as inorganic chemistry, providing a wide variety of subjects.

The essay exam is the most crucial exam to pass in a short period of time because it is difficult to understand what kind of things you need to write to pass the exam.　The pass rate for the paper exam this year was 25%, and 211 people passed the exam. Due to the influence of the above-mentioned exemption system, there is not much correlation between the impression of difficulty and the pass rate figures.　Of those who passed the exam this year, more than 60% were exempted from the first exam.

The last examination

The third test was an interview, which is the final one. As 199 people passed this year, most of them will pass, but this is why it is the most nerve-wracking exam that challengers cannot afford to lose.

In this exam, one must thoroughly re-memorize what one has studied in the previous primary and secondary exams, along with the articles.

The following is a description of this year's finalists who passed the above. The average number of attempts is 3.7 times, and the pass rate is 6.1%.　In terms of age, the largest number of respondents were in their 30s, and the percentage of women was over 30%.　The percentage of women seems to be around 25% in previous years, so it seems that women fared well this year.

As a former challenger of the exam

I also took and passed this exam over 10 years ago.　Unlike many good students, I was an ordinary person, so I had no choice but to take the time to study steadily and steadily.　It is not an exaggeration to say that this was the time in my life when I spent the most time studying.

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the 199 people who passed the final exam this year!!