Patent Attorney/Intellectual property manager

Imagine designing something amazing - a backpack with a solar panel for your tablet, or a pocket sized water filter. You would want to get your design to market and ensure that nobody else copied it. You can do this by applying for a ‘patent’ for your design. A patent means the design belongs to you and people need your permission to use the design. Patent attorneys and intellectual property managers advise you if it is worth applying for a patent on a new invention, design or process. They investigate to see if anyone has the same design idea, write a legal description of the design, and apply to register the patent. They need a good understanding of the technology involved with the design as well an understanding of intellectual property law. A degree in a scientific subject is useful for this role, and so maths and science qualifications will be helpful. You may need to take additional qualifications related to intellectual property law as you train, and a foreign language would be useful for global patents. Patent attorneys earn from £23,000 to £100,000 per year.