My trainee colleagues and I are now in the final stage of our first 5-week theory period. So many new impressions, new colleagues and new information have opened up for us, revealing an exciting new world of IP law.
When I first applied for the Trainee program, I had very little knowledge of the many facets of IP law and of how many different competencies I would need. Not only do you need to have technical ingenuity, but also an eye for the small details and the bigger picture, quick thinking and excellent people skills.
Even though we have been here only for a short while, all of these sides have already been put to the test, and to answer my own question: Yes, IP law is hard!
It involves a whole new way of thinking where the questions, unlike in many of my university courses, do not have any clear answers. Where each word have to be given careful consideration and every choice have longtime consequences. But it is also a great mystery that only my skills and I can solve. Together we embark on this great new adventure, in which I already feel a bit like a detective. Whether it is finding the perfect word for a specific sentence (who knew that consists of and comprises could mean so different things?), defining the essential feature of a new invention or discovering the specific detail that will make my office action response irrefutable.
I am positive that IP law and all of us trainees have a great future ahead of us. And dear IP law, you did not have me at hello, but you had me at Michael Jacksons Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusions patent.
Bianca Bothmann, Associate