Scope and Salary of Intellectual Property Attorney

Scope of Intellectual Property Attorney, Courses, Jobs & Salary

Intellectual Property means the creations, inventions, and discoveries of literary and artistic works designs and symbols, names and images that are used for commercial purposes. Examples of intellectual property are books, plays, music, artwork, etc. The Intellectual Property Law let the creator of the product or works from infringement commercially for a certain period of time. Different types of Intellectual Property rights are as follows:

Patent Right
Trademarks
Copyrights
Industrial Designs
Geographical Indications

To become an Intellectual Property Attorney, a person should have either 5 years or 3 years bachelor's degree (LLB) in Law.
He must be a Graduate in any stream for 3 years LLB program. Most institutes or universities conduct an entrance test that is Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for getting admission to law colleges.
After completing LLB, a person can do a specialization in any of the IPR courses. The person should have a complete knowledge in Intellectual Property Rights.
The Intellectual Property courses are appropriate not only for lawyers but also for other professionals like Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Management and commerce students, etc.
There are various government and private institutes which offer courses in Intellectual Property Rights. Among them, IIT-Kharagpur, Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law offers 3 year LLB course with specialization in IPR.
There are several colleges which offers 2 years PG Diploma programme in IPR. Global School of Intellectual Property (GIIP) offers 6 month postgraduate diploma program in IPR and 3 months Post Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law.
One can also have their Masters degree in Intellectual Property through regular or distance education. There are several courses in Intellectual Property. They are as below:

Advanced Course in Intellectual Property Rights and Management
Certificate Course in Intellectual Property Rights
Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights
LLM in Intellectual Property Laws
Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Laws (Correspondence/ Distance Education)
Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Laws
Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights and Patent Management (Correspondence/ Distance Education)
Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights and Patent Management
Post Graduate Diploma in Patent and IP Laws, Processes and Services
Post Graduate Diploma in Patent Law and Practice

The job of an intellectual property professionals are in great demand. There are several organizations who hire skilled professionals to handle their intellectual property issues. An Intellectual Property Attorney can work as an:

Counselors or Advocates to clients – To protect the client’s intellectual property like trademarks/copyrights/patents/industrial designs, etc. The IP professionals counsel their clients on local and foreign patent strategy.
Writers – they draft legal documents, appeals and intellectual licensing agreements.
Examiners – they work at Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). They assess the patent applications, checks the originality of the invention and other grants patents.
Scientist/Engineers/IPR specialist –they understand the specifications on the innovations in the patent and help the inventor to get the patent on his invention.

To be an Intellectual Property Attorney, the person should have the following skills:

He should have the skill for critical thinking
He should have good analytical reasoning
He should have the negotiating power
He should possess the research and writing skills
He should have the knowledge of scientific and legal concepts
He should have mathematical or computer related skills
He should have good communication skill
Intellectual Property Lawyers should have scientific, technical, technological and business skills.

There are several government and private institutes who offer courses in Intellectual Property Rights through Distance Learning and Online also.
Among them NLSIU, NALSAR, Amity Law School, IGNOU, etc are the major ones. They offer Diploma courses through distance education.
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), School of Law in association with Queens Land University of Technology (QUT), Australia has 2 years online Master’s Program in Intellectual Property Law (MIPL).
The program is conveyed to its students using self-instructional text, audio-video materials, radio and television broadcasts, online counseling, video-conferencing and other advanced internet-based learning techniques and systems.
One can also pursue Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law on regular or through distance education. Course such as Professional Training in Patent Law and Practice can be done through Correspondence or Distance Education. To study Intellectual Property Law, there is no age bar but the person must have to be a Graduate.

There are several scopes for a person who have completed IPR courses. Technical graduates have wide range of employment opportunities as Patent analysts, Patent Engineers or agents, Patent / IP consultants/ Advisor, Licensing & Valuation experts, Patent prosecutors, portfolio managers etc. Law graduate professionals can work at law firms, or as independent IP attorneys.
An aspirant Intellectual Property Lawyer can have experience by working in any law firm or gove
- The candidate who wants to become an Intellectual Property Attorney has to complete his graduation in Law from any recognized university/institute.
- The candidates who are interested to be an Intellectual Property Attorney must do a specialization in any of the IPR courses after their law degree.
- A candidate who has done his graduation in any stream such as law, science, engineering, technical and management are eligible for this course.
- The protection of intellectual property has become very important and therefore most organizations conduct intellectual property audits to find out their intellectual wealth and set special departments to manage them.
- The legal professionals who specialize in this field are known as Intellectual Property Attorneys.
- Their foremost job is to protect the intellectual property rights of their clients. Intellectual property attorneys practice the entire range of intellectual matters like patents, copyright, trademark law.
- They also assist in licensing inventions, drafting licensing agreements, negotiating settlements, etc.
- Intellectual Property attorneys consult on creative ideas and give new ideas to their clients.
- They also advise on new rules and regulations to protect their client’s properties.
- The salary criteria of an Intellectual Property Attorney depend upon his area of specialization and experience.
- They can specialize in any of the areas like patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. A fresh law graduate can earn a monthly salary of approx. Rs. 15,000/- to approx. Rs. 20,000/- .
- Those who have experience can earn approx. Rs. 8 lakhs to approx. Rs. 15 lakhs or more per annum.
- There are some firms who offer their Intellectual Property Attorneys benefits like bonus and profit sharing.