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Careers for Chemists in the Intellectual Property Field. CHEMISTRY 199 SEMINAR Gary Gross & Jeremy Stoneburner MARCH 30, 2007. WWW.BLS.GOV OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK *****CHEMISTS*****.
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Careers for Chemists in the Intellectual Property Field CHEMISTRY 199 SEMINAR Gary Gross & Jeremy Stoneburner MARCH 30, 2007
WWW.BLS.GOVOCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK*****CHEMISTS***** • Median annual earnings of chemists in May 2004 were $56,060. The middle 50 percent earned between $41,900 and $76,080. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $33,170, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $98,010. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of chemists in May 2004 are shown below: • Federal Government $80,550 • Scientific research and development services $62,460 • Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing $57,050 • The ACS reports that in 2004 the median salary of all of its members with a bachelor’s degree was $62,000; for those with a master’s degree, it was $72,300; and for those with a Ph.D., it was $91,600. • According to an ACS survey of recent graduates, inexperienced chemistry graduates with a bachelor’s degree earned a median starting salary of $32,500 in October 2004; those with a master’s degree earned a median salary of $43,600; and those with a Ph.D. had median earnings of $65,000. • Among bachelor’s degree graduates, those who had completed internships or had other work experience while in school commanded the highest starting salaries.
WWW.JOBSEARCH.USAJOBS.GOV • PATENT EXAMINER (BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY) • SALARY RANGE: 63,885.00 - 83,052.00 USD per year • Many vacancies - Alexandria, VA • JOB SUMMARY:Discover an exciting career with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office! The career you would have is filled with endless possibilities and you can be a part of something that makes a difference for you, the country, and the world. It's an effort that continues to contribute to a strong global economy and to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit for the 21st century. Begin your career today by applying online...It's easy, fast and convenient! • This position is located in the Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry Technology Center of the Patent and Trademark Office, Alexandria, Virginia. Incumbent is responsible for reviewing patent applications, determining the scope of the protection claimed by the inventor, researching relevant technologies and communicating findings for patent practitioners/inventors.
WWW.SCIENCECAREERS.SCIENCEMAG.ORG • As long as there are people with good ideas, there will be a need for patent professionals. And with the recent unveiling of the human genome sequence--to say nothing of the new drugs that are being tested every day--those working in the patent field are busier than ever. "Work just finds us!" exclaims Frederick Gibb, senior partner at McGinn and Gibb, a Washington, D.C., area firm that specializes in electrical patents. So, what does this mean for the scientist looking to dive into a career in patent law? Jorge Goldstein, founding partner and a managing director of Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein, and Fox in Washington, D.C., and head of the firm's biotech practice, says that lawyers who apply to his firm must have legal expertise in the biotech area, but not necessarily a Ph.D. degree. He goes on to say, however, that his firm only hires people with Ph.D.s for technical specialist positions. In the U.S., job seekers generally should look toward major cities on the East and West coasts for the bulk of the opportunities in patent law: New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles are a few "hot spots." Communication Skills Patent professionals are constantly drafting patent applications, defending their client's claims to the Patent Office, and consulting with inventors. Morgan says that applicants who have good writing skills are much sought after by his firm. He also says there is a limited pool of people who have both science expertise and writing skills--and that his firm is looking for them!
WWW.SCIENCECAREERS.SCIENCEMAG.ORG • Teamwork - Show employers that you are a team player. Plumer says she looks for applicants who will "play well with others." In any setting, patent lawyers and agents must work with a whole team of people, including secretaries, inventors (the scientists), and business types. "We have people who compete with themselves, not with others," says Plumer. • Interdisciplinary Science Training - Plumer's firm looks for applicants who can bring an interesting blend of skills. Recent hires at her firm have included a scientist with expertise in both chemistry and pharmacology, as well as a scientist who specialized in computer science and bioinformatics. Interdisciplinary training will not only add to your scientific knowledge base, but it will also demonstrate that you can easily pick up and apply new knowledge. The message is clear--if you decide to gain additional scientific experience, say as a postdoc, you'd be well advised to seek training in an area different from your current field. • Flexibility - Patent lawyers and agents must be flexible and able to understand a wide variety of technologies. Goldstein looks for "quick studies" when hiring patent professionals. He wants to know that he can assign a case based on a genetics technology to an immunologist, for example.
American Bar AssociationWeb SiteWWW.ABANET.ORG/INTELPROP/PATENTPREP.HTML • Patent law can be divided informally into four technical areas-chemical, electrical, mechanical, and biotechnological. While a detailed knowledge of any single area will be helpful, it is useful for patent lawyers to have a broad understanding of the basic, fundamental rules underlying their area of expertise as well as those of others. With this general knowledge and basic understanding, they can quickly place an invention into its proper niche. • A patent lawyer's education and capacity for acquiring knowledge is never-ending. Patent lawyers must be perpetual students-inquisitive and retentive. They should have a wide spectrum of general knowledge, and be able to incorporate within this a detailed current knowledge of the law and technology pertinent to particular problems. Oftentimes, an inventor will be unaware of the true breadth and scope of his invention, and must rely upon the lawyer to draft and obtain patent claims of proper scope.
American Bar AssociationWeb SiteWWW.ABANET.ORG/INTELPROP/PATENTPREP.HTML • Undergraduate Work College students who are contemplating the field of patent law as a career choice should major in engineering, physics or the natural sciences (such as chemistry and biochemistry). In order to eventually practice in this field, an aptitude and liking for science and technology is an absolute must. College students should also take, in addition to courses in the desired technical subject, courses which cultivate skills in organization and communication. An understanding of marketing, economics, accounting, mathematics, and languages, though less essential, will also be helpful. A college student who has not made a firm career decision can follow the course of study outlined here and finish college prepared for a career in science or engineering, business, law in general, or patent law.
American Bar AssociationWeb SiteWWW.ABANET.ORG/INTELPROP/PATENTPREP.HTML • One intellectual property law career position that does not require a law degree is that of an examiner with the USPTO. The USPTO generally requires that an applicant for such a position have a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in a scientific or engineering subject. An applicant is not required, however, to have a law background, but may later acquire legal training at a local university while working in the USPTO. Interested students should contact the USPTO for its current technical requirements.
American Bar AssociationWeb SiteWWW.ABANET.ORG/INTELPROP/PATENTPREP.HTML The Patent Bar Examination • In order to practice patent law in the USPTO, a person must take and pass the "patent bar" exam (officially, the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). The exam is administered numerous times per year in hundreds of locations. • A person need not be a law student or even a lawyer to take the patent bar. To be eligible to take the patent bar, an applicant must, in general, (l) hold a bachelor's degree or the equivalent in engineering or one of the sciences specified by the USPTO; (2) hold a bachelor's degree in another subject, and have taken a certain number of hours of specified science courses; or (3) have taken and passed the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) test. You need not be a lawyer.
SAMPLE PATENT -CLAIMS • What is claimed is:1. An optically active compound of the formula: where the R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 groups are a lower alkyl group or an aryl or biaryl unit while the R.sub.1 groups independently each are a hydroxyl, alkoxyl, aryloxy, or arylalkoxy group, the R groups each represent a group as follows: 2. The optically active compound of claim 1, where each R substituent is independently selected as: where R.sub.4 represents a group as follows: where n is an integer value of .gtoreq.0, X is --CH.dbd.CH--CH.sub.2 --, or (CH.sub.2).sub.m -- where m is an integer value of .gtoreq.1, Y is a radical of an aromatic hydrocarbon, an acyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon, or an alicyclic hydrocarbon, and Y can be substituted or unsubstituted. 3. The optically active compound of claim 2, where R.sub.4 is an aryloxy radical, an arylalkoxy radical, an arylalkyleneoxy, or an arylalkenyleneoxy radical. 4. (4R,5R)-2,2-dimethyl-.alpha.,.alpha.,.alpha.',.alpha.'-tetrakis[6-(benzylo xy)naphth-2-yl]-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanol.
SAMPLE PATENT – CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS • The inventive compound of FIG. 2 was synthesized according to the following protocol with reference to the reaction Scheme I provided below. Synthesis of 2-(Benzyloxy)-6-bromonaphthalene (2) Intermediate: A mechanically stirred mixture of 6-bromonaphth-2-ol (10.00 g, 0.04483 mol), benzyl bromide (6.97 g, 0.0408 mol), potassium carbonate (11.26 g, 0.08147 mol) and butan-2-one (350 ml) was heated under reflux for 24 hrs. (GLC and TLC analyses revealed a complete reaction). The potassium carbonate was filtered off and the filtrate was washed with water before being dried (MgSO.sub.4). The drying agent was filtered off and the solvent was removed in vacuo to give a pale orange solid. The crude product was crystallized twice from ethanol and was dried in vacuo (P.sub.2 O.sub.5, CaCl.sub.2, paraffin wax, 48 h) to afford white crystals.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES • WWW.IPWATCHDOG.COM • Mr. Joseph Edminister – jae15@uakron.edu • WWW.USPTO.GOV