Patent Examiner Job - Help Please

So I'm applying for a job at the Patent Office (USPTO) as a "Patent Examiner (Mechanical Engineering)". I have absolutely zero experience with the patent office and am hoping that some game designers... anyone really... can give me some things to put on my resume/CV to make me stand out. If you need to answer direct questions:

1. Very short description of what patent examiners do in your experience.

2. What makes a bad patent examiner?

3. What makes a good patent examiner?

4. Basically, are there any key words/phrases that would matter?

*If your experience has to do with electronics / engineering please state that outright since that's the specific job I'm applying for. If yours has to do with casino games I really want your opinion as well.

Contact Rich Newman. He's the casino game patent lawyer several of us have used.

So you think he would be open to a (random) e-mail? That's actually a perfect kind of person to talk to.

First, if you ask Rich for advice, please offer to pay him. Maybe he'll be a nice guy and give you some quick advice for free, but it is a good gesture to at least offer. Even if you have to pay, Rich's advice would be worth every penny.

I hope nobody reviewing my patents reads this, but I have a pretty low opinion of the examiners in their office. One of my poker variants was denied because poker is already a common-domain game, and quoted from my own web site (not knowing it was mine) as evidence. That's fine, but what about every poker variant they did approve? In my experience they know almost nothing about gambling and just latch onto the basic concepts of the idea. If they find anything remotely similar in other patents they deny it.

However, the applicant truly has something unique and keeps fighting it through the appeals they will probably compromise and allow a watered-down patent.

My advice in any interview is to be honest. Highlight what you do know, and if forced admit where you're willing to learn.

I assume you've already read the MPEP, which means you actually have a great deal of experience with the patent office at least from a procedural standpoint. If you *haven't* yet read the MPEP, do that before applying for the job because that'll be your employee handbook...

Thank you everyone for your input. Waiting on the hiring manager (or whoever is listed) to get back to me before I go through the full application process.

And no, I hadn't even heard of the MPEP before you mentioned it. Funny that it's nowhere to be found on the job listing... maybe they wouldn't get as many applications if they said you'll have to read a thousand page book and actually know it.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Contact Rich Newman. He's the casino game patent lawyer several of us have used.

Quote: ahiromu

So you think he would be open to a (random) e-mail? That's actually a perfect kind of person to talk to.

Quote: Wizard

First, if you ask Rich for advice, please offer to pay him.

For what it's worth, I never meant to imply that you shouldn't offer to pay, or to expect to get your answers for free.

It might also be a good idea to ask a patent lawyer in your area the same questions. And "area" means geographically as well as your area of expertise.

I'm not a attorney but I hold several patents and have several others pending. I've basically had reasonable experiences with my examiners (both when using an attorney or prosecuting pro se), even though the process has been far from easy in most cases. It's the examiner's job to throw down the gauntlet to help ensure the issuance of quality patents. It's the inventor's job to help elucidate how their invention transcends that which is obvious or can be anticipated by those "skilled in the art." I've had to have several conference calls with examiners on some of my patents to help them understand the difference my disclosure is making from the prior art. But in the end, I find that most examiners are open-minded and fair, but not pushovers.

The best examiners are actually helpful in making suggestions on how to modify your claims (as long as they're supported by your specifications) to help make them qualify for allowance. All my examiners have provided that kind of helpful guidance once I've successfully argued the merits of my invention.

I trust you've googled "patent examiner qualifications?"