The interview was produced by New Scientist in conjunction with the European Patent Office, which paid for it to be produced.
Innovation often starts with a "light bulb moment". But after that it's up to a team of sharp-eyed patent examiners to figure out whether a new invention deserves to be protected with a patent. Dai George asks patent examiner Laura Smith-Hewitt what it's like to work at the European Patent Office (EPO).
What does a patent examiner at the EPO do?
At the EPO, our main job is to grant patents to inventors. We offer a uniform application procedure so that inventors can seek protection for their innovation in up to 40 countries across Europe, all through a single application in English, German or French.
Patent examiners carry out the fundamental work of the EPO, in accordance with the European Patent Convention. Every patent examiner specialises in a particular field, based on their science background. In my time so far at the EPO I've worked in several areas: I started out examining general-use laboratory technology, such as that used in medical diagnostics and forensics, and more recently I've specialised in the electrical analysis of fluids, particularly glucose sensors. For every application we receive, we search for similar inventions that have come before, looking for what we call "prior art", and examine the claims of the new invention. We can only grant a patent if the technology demonstrates an "inventive step", which means that the inventor has made reasoned and objective progress on what came before by solving a technical problem.
What kinds of patent applications are sent to you?
I see all sorts of different applications. We have applications from individuals but they're relatively rare. Many applications come from the global players in industry – the company that files the most patents to us is Samsung, for example. But many big companies also licence-in or buy new technologies developed by small groups of research scientists.
We also receive a lot of applications from university departments. The EPO functions as a crucial link between academic science and the technology market. It is becoming increasingly important for universities to protect their intellectual property, so that they can spin off and sell the fruits of their research to technology companies.
Does a patent examiner need to have a science or engineering degree?
For any patent that I see, I need to be able to understand the technology behind it. When someone is applying to patent a diagnostic device, I have to know how that device works. I have a master's degree in chemical engineering, and these skills help me to understand the claims and description for the technology quickly, along with any scientific drawings that the applicant provides.
So yes, patent examiners need a science or engineering degree that is relevant for the technical field they want to work in.
What other skills and attributes do you need to be a good patent examiner?
Examining any application takes a sharp eye for detail and an analytical mind. You need to be able to judge carefully whether an application meets the requirements of the law. If a patent can't be granted for an invention, you must provide the applicant with reasoned objections in a clear and concise way, so that they have the opportunity to try to overcome them. Making such judgements relies on being thorough in your research and knowing the applicable patent law.
When someone files a patent, I have to find the prior art, and that requires me to look through a lot of patents and academic or technical literature using our IT tools. Every day I retrieve the most relevant documents from a huge range of databases, and I need to understand those documents quickly when I read them. It takes a great deal of persistence.
You should be ready for quite a steep learning curve. When I first came to the EPO, I knew nothing about the law at all, so I had to learn the European Patent Convention from scratch. The legal and technical training is comprehensive and lasts for the first two years of your career at the EPO.
There are three official languages of the EPO – English, French and German. You really need to know them all to work here. In some cases, if you can demonstrate strong skills in only two languages – say, if you're a UK citizen with English as a mother tongue, but you have good knowledge of French – it's possible to be employed on a three-year contract, which becomes permanent once you have acquired sufficient skills in the third language.
The EPO has offices in Germany and the Netherlands. Are there any perks to working abroad?
What's nice is that you're not judged on where you come from. Once you're in, you're judged purely on what you do – there's no hierarchy based on which university or school you attended. I came here at the same time as a batch of people who were in the same boat as me. Nobody knew anyone else's background, and it's a bit like starting a new university course in that respect, though of course it's very much a work environment. You all study for the same courses on law and how to use advanced retrieval tools to search for patents, and those intense weeks that you spend together contribute to lasting friendships. I'm still going to lunch with the people I met on my first day here. You bond together, and then it's very interesting to find out about other people's backgrounds and culture.
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