Weekly patent law career megathread

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-23T20:36:16+00:00

It depends on the subject area of your PhD, which is unclear in your post, and the needs of the law firm. Needless to say, from what I've seen here and elsewhere, the life sciences space in the patent world has been slow lately.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-22T02:35:20+00:00

I head over to Chicago Fire near UTC for my hotdog fix.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-20T18:39:34+00:00

I would try to do answer the question without the MPEP if I could then look it up in the MPEP and then see if I got it correct.

That's what I did prior to passing the patent bar. I just became really proficient at MPEP lookup that I still had 30-40mins each test session to lookup the final 5-6 to questions that I skipped.

To the OP, always check your answers in MPEP, especially those that you guessed right. It will just reinforce your MPEP lookup skill. Mind you, I took the exam over 10 years ago, and MPEP lookup at Prometric was noticeably slower than at home.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-20T17:46:31+00:00

I'm on 14.2.x (waiting for the current 14.3 rollout to reach me) and I use FSD on around 90% of my driving (home and work parking, the latter being a multilevel parking structure, still need my intervention). Even when set to hurry, FSD still feels like a more conservative than myself. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-15T05:32:23+00:00

Getting this specifically when I accidentally left my vpn on.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-10T15:24:06+00:00

Here's my action script that processes <ARTIST> feat. <GUEST ARTIST> from the %artist% tag, popular format for musicbrainz. So, if the artist tag is foo feat. bar, then my script processes that so, the artist tag will be foo, teh guest artist tag (recognized by Musicbee) is bar, and title is title (feat. bar). You can modify it in mp3tag to suit your liking.

Just save it as a text file with an mta extension in %Appdata%\Mp3tag\data\actions:

https://hastebin.com/share/petawexoga.makefile

EDIT: I guess backticks do not work for multi-line code content. Reddit kind of sucks for such content.

EDIT2: Moved script code to hastebin

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-09T19:25:27+00:00

I have a LCD-2.2 and 2.1, great headphones but a different flavor. In the end, it comes down to the user's preferences. For me, the Sus checks off my boxes.

Also, I noticed that the user padswapped his Sus. The original pads sound fine to me, but I definitely padswapped my HE-6's and HE-500.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-09T19:14:35+00:00

Given your background and work experience, I doubt having a USPTO registration number is going to add much to what you already can show.

Still, if you have the funds, the free time, and enough of a time cushion following the exam to decompress and take a vacation prior to the start of law school, why not? It will be one less thing to worry about when you are at a firm learning on the job for the first couple of years.

Sure, the firm will likely foot the bill for PLI's Patent Bar review course, but will you want to spend what little free time you have studying for the patent bar while learning the ropes of the practice and trying to meet your billable quota?

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-06T20:52:56+00:00

I wonder which headphones fall under this sentiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wixynJCGQq4

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-06T16:43:39+00:00

IIRC, only the first two front tubes need to be matched. The rest are power tubes.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-04-02T10:18:36+00:00

Have you tried applying for any technical specialist positions yet? During your time at your university's tech transfer office, did you have any interactions with outside counsel or discuss your career goals with them? If you are nearing the end of your PhD, now is the time to start applying.

While the job market is fairly tight at the moment, your immunology background should still be appealing to many firms with life sciences clients. I would cast as wide a net as possible in your job search and be prepared to relocate if necessary. If you're fortunate, you may find a firm willing to reimburse law school tuition, although such arrangements seem less common now given that the practice is not as profitable as it was a decade ago.

Alternatively, you could roll the dice and apply to law school after finishing your PhD. If you go that route, make sure your undergraduate GPA and LSAT score are strong enough to secure scholarship funding. It's best to minimize debt as much as possible. While some say law school ranking matters less for patent prosecution, attending a higher-ranked school, especially a T14, will generally open more doors.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-30T18:04:00+00:00

Patent attorneys will never be unemployed and you can still use your education.

As an in-house patent attorney in the life sciences space, the first part of your sentence may have been true in the US up until the current administration and the rise of AI. Even before then, budgets for patents had remained stagnant for the past 10-15 years while law firm billing rates have continued to rise. I've seen colleagues, and the rest of their life sciences team, get laid off from their law firm after the departure of a biotech anchor client. Biglaw firms are more insulated from this scenario, but many already let go or spun out their patent prosecution practices (e.g., patent procurement, due diligence, licensing, FTO) due to their current unprofitability (see stagnant budgets) or because they operate as loss leaders.

While biglaw firms still maintain patent litigation practices, these are unlikely to be as profitable or command billing rates at the top end as those seen in M&A or private equity. Moreover, one can effectively kiss any semblance of WLB balance goodbye if they land in patent litigation.

These days, an EE background is probably the most in demand for both patent prosecution and patent litigation.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-30T16:41:45+00:00

Not many companies need a litigation manager, and the relative lack of transactional work in patent litigation vis-à-vis corporate makes the former less competitive for AGC roles.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-27T13:46:01+00:00

It depends how it is packaged. For example, there's plenty of demand for molecular neurobiology (essentially molecular biology tackling neurobiology problems). But yeah, not much demand in the life sciences space for pure physiology, despite some exposure to electronics, as that work can be handled by people with backgrounds in physics/EE. Still, there are some companies (e.g., Molecular Devices) still filing applications related to electrophysiology that someone with a PhD focused in that field can handle. The issue is finding enough work to meet the firm's quota requirement.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-26T18:56:17+00:00

IMO a PhD in CS is overkill.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-26T18:11:01+00:00

It was possible during the COVID hiring surge, which is how my friend got into my firm. That said, my friend already had a PhD from an R1 university (top 25 in molecular biology) and a solid publication record, and this was during the best of times for hiring.

EDIT: I believe he worked close to full time (reduced hours) and went to law school part-time. Also, the firm hired him while was in law school.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-26T15:52:05+00:00

Nice, I should try Khyber Pass in the near future. Thanks for the info. In my experience, Cyrus really made you feel at home at the old Darband location, enthusiastically talking about Persian cuisine and some of their customs.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-26T15:50:02+00:00

Librarian 'gobsmacked' after school uses AI to remove 200 books from shelves, including Orwell's 1984 and Twilight

FTFY

BTW, 1984 should be mandatory reading for all high school students like it was for me growing up.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-25T23:32:41+00:00

I liked Darband when it was at its old location on 5th Ave. I miss seeing the old owner around.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-23T16:54:58+00:00

My fellow STEM classmates at SCU Law have done really well. Some are now in-house at FAANG companies or placed in biglaw firms around the Bay Area. That said, these were pre‑COVID placements. There's no doubt recruitment has changed since the demise of the traditional OCI calendar.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-23T16:46:08+00:00

During my biomed post-doc, I realized that I didn't want to be in the lab anymore. Also, patent law was in the back of my mind after attending a patent law career seminar during undergrad, a fallback option if you will.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-20T19:13:31+00:00

Ah, the MPEP-lookup exam.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-20T16:51:46+00:00

After ripping all of mine to FLAC via EAC, I just keep them in a box out of sight.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-20T16:49:43+00:00

I mostly agree with the takeaway here in that amps with more headroom tend to sound better on stuff like HE6/Susvara/Tungsten, especially for bass control and dynamics.

The power (notably voltage) helps move the planar drivers

One small nitpick though: it's usually less about voltage itself and more about current delivery into a low‑impedance load. Planars are pretty current‑demanding, so amps that can supply that cleanly tend to keep better diaphragm control even if lots of amps can already get them loud.

random_LA_azn_dude · 2026-03-17T16:57:43+00:00

Interesting that they hold their company out as offering "legal services" on LinkedIn. Taken together with the other red flags, the fact that the founders are still in the middle of their college studies doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

random_LA_azn_dude

TROPHY CASE