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Faces of Chemistry: Darren Smyth - Patent Attorney - YouTube
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developing new products requires a huge
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investment of time and money and the
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theory is that companies won't invest
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that time and money if as soon as they
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launch a product somebody else is free
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to come along and copy it a patent is a
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document that gives the owner a monopoly
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for 20 years for the thing that they
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have invented if I'm a pharmaceutical
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company and I come up with a new drug a
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new pharmaceutical then a patent
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attorney like me will write a thing
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called a patent application which will
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describe the thing which has been
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invented so the new chemical compound
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and what its pharmaceutical effect is
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and then that gets filed as a patent
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application and then examined by patent
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officers all around the world and when
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each patent office is happy with it then
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it gets granted as a patent and that
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gives the holder of the patent the right
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to stop other people from doing the
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thing that is defined in the patent for
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20 years so a patent attorney is a kind
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of lawyer but there are different kinds
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of lawyers in the UK and solicitors and
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barristers don't have to be technically
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specialized whereas patent attorneys are
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specialized and we practice only in the
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technical field which is related to the
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academic background that we have so my
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backgrounds in chemistry so I deal with
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things like pharmaceuticals polymers
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batteries food chemistry and that kind
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of thing I've been involved in the
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patent work for the product which is
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called splendor which is a zero calorie
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sweetener
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whose generic name is sucralose and this
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was invented by Tate & Lyle and it was
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the first time that something that was
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intensely sweet had been discovered that
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was actually a derivative of sugar
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itself the chemistry backgrounds
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absolutely essential to my daily work as
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a patent attorney it is absolutely
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critical to understand what it is that
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the inventors have done what I really
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enjoy about my job is the variety I'll
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probably be doing something different in
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the morning from in the afternoon and my
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practice covers a huge variety of
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different technical subjects because
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patents are applied for nationally all
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around the world we have clients all
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around the world as well so as well as
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clients in the UK I apply it's in the
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USA in Japan in Australia and so maybe
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not initially but when you become more
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senior most patent attorneys spend a
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significant amount of time traveling
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around the world visiting their Glines
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for me and I think for most people
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becoming a patent attorney is a
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combination of two factors we've all
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started off and studying a science
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subject and possibly doing research in
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it and most of us I think have got fed
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up of that and I got to the stage where
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I thought if I ran another silica gel
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column I would probably go mad so I
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didn't want to do research anymore
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I think having had some research
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experience is really valuable because I
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think it helps you to interact with
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researchers who are the inventors that
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are fundamental to our work but I think
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it's quite debatable whether the years
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spent doing research are better spent
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having done that than having gained
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experience in the patent profession so I
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think if you haven't done the research
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yet it might be better to try to enter
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the patent profession straightaway but
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if you have done some research then I
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think that experience is very valuable
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when I joined the profession it wasn't
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actually very easy to find out about and
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not very many university careers
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departments knew a lot about it and
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patent firms didn't have websites in
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those days either and I happen to know
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about it because my mother had invented
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something when I was a child and it
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could had consulted a patent attorney
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and also when I left University a friend
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had become a patent attorney nowadays I
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think it's a lot easier and I think
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University careers Department know about
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the patent profession will have
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information about it
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what we look for when we're looking for
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potential trainee patent attorneys
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because it's very difficult looking at a
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chemistry graduate and deciding whether
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they're going to be any good at this job
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is above all very good English language
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skills and of course you you have to be
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interested in the law you may not have
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done anything to show that
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for you enter the profession but I think
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you do need to think very carefully
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about whether the law is for you
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