Passed

For about 6 years I've been thinking of or loosely planning on taking the patent bar (see here and here), and more recently I've gotten more serious and actually applied (see here, items 7 and 8). And then I took it in January; three weeks before having a baby I took a 7 hour exam.  I failed (I didn't blog about it).  I failed by three questions, just 3.

After crying about it, I found new resolve. I would take and pass the Patent Bar before some of the material being tested changed significantly on April 2.  See, here's the thing- the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law in 2011, and it introduces major changes in the patent law. The provisions of AIA have been being implemented in stages since it became law in 2011.  The most significant changes went into effect on March 16, and as of April 2, those changes are incorporated into the material covered on the Patent Bar. In fact, on my first attempt at the Patent Bar, I didn't fully appreciate how many test questions would relate to aspects of AIA that were already being added to the test material.  If I had, I think I would have passed the first time around.

I took the Patent Bar again on Friday. This time around, I passed.