The process for the registration of patents is mandated principally in the Patents Law and the Patents Regulations. When drawing up a patent, a patent attorney must ensure the existence of the significant and procedural conditions that will enable the patent examiner acting on behalf of the Patent Office to grant the patent. Clause 3 to the Patent Law is one of the principal criteria with which anyone requesting patent must comply before patent is granted. Clause 3 states a number of conditions: “An invention, whether a product or a process in any technological field, which is new and useful, can be used in industry or agriculture, and which involves an inventive step, is a patentable invention.” (No underlining in the original). When drawing up a request for patent, a patent attorney formulates the request in a manner compliant with these and other conditions. Inventors very often misinterpret the conditions to a request for patent and similarly, they abstain from seeking patent from the stage when the invention is still an idea. After they have successfully sold or commercialized their invention, competitors suddenly appear and the race begins to protect their invention, but unfortunately, very often, that it is just too late.
That is why it is so important to consult with a patent attorney and check whether it will be worthwhile to file a request for patent or another type of protection provided by Law in the field of intellectual copyright. In some circumstances, even though patent will not be granted, an inventor can still request other types of protection.
This professional field requires qualification and in order to receive a license to practice, a patent attorney must meet the requirements in Law, for example – Clause 142 to the Patent Law:
[Eligibility for registration in the Register of Patent Attorneys]
142.—(a) If a person meets the following requirements, then he is entitled to be registered in the Register of Patent Attorneys and to receive a patent attorney’s license:
(1) He is an Israel resident;
(2) One of the following holds true for him:
(a) He is registered as an engineer in the Register of Engineers and Architects under the Engineers and Architects Law 5718—1958;
(b) He graduated from an institution of higher education, within its meaning in the Council for Higher Education Law 5718—1958 in one of the professions specified in the Schedule;
(c) he graduated abroad, at an institution of higher education or a higher technological institute approved for the present purpose by the Minister of Justice after consultation with the Council for Higher Education, in one of the professions specified in the Schedule;
(3) He has passed the examinations said in section 143 or was exempted from them;
(4) He performed qualifying service in Israel during not less than two years in the Office of a patent attorney who practices his profession for at least three years, at the Patent Office or in the patent department of an industrial enterprise;
(5) He paid the prescribed fee.
(b) The Minister of Justice, with approval from the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, shall be entitled to add to the fields of specialization enumerated in the Second Amendment.
Clause 143 to the Patent Law states:
143.—(a) If a person wishes to be registered in the Register of Patent Attorneys, then he must pass an examination in the prescribed manner in order to prove that he has an appropriate knowledge of the Law of patents, designs and trademarks of Israel and in foreign countries and of other relevant enactments, all as prescribed, and that he has command of the Hebrew language and of at least one other language required for his work, as prescribed.
(b) The examination shall be conducted by two or three examiners, among them not more than one patent attorney, and in each case they shall be selected by the Minister of Justice—or by a person appointed by him for that purpose—from a panel of examiners determined by the Minister.
(c) The Minister of Justice may exempt categories of candidates from the examination if it can be proved in some other prescribed manner that they possess the knowledge required in an examination under subsection (a).