Ethics and Professional Responsibility Flashcards
7 cards from real Patent Bar Exam practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ethics and Professional Responsibility flashcards as text
A practitioner who has been disbarred from a state bar but remains registered with the USPTO may:
Answer: Face separate USPTO disciplinary proceedings based on the state disbarment
Under 37 CFR 11.24, a disciplinary action in another jurisdiction is grounds for reciprocal discipline before the USPTO, including possible exclusion.
Under 37 CFR 11.105, before or within a reasonable time after commencing representation, a practitioner must:
Answer: Communicate the basis or rate of the fee and expenses to the client
37 CFR 11.105 requires that the basis or rate of the fee and expenses be communicated to the client before or within a reasonable time after commencing representation.
A practitioner is asked to sign a declaration on behalf of an inventor who is unavailable. The practitioner knows the facts stated are true. Under the USPTO rules, the practitioner should:
Answer: Decline to sign the declaration because only the inventor may make the required oath
The inventor's oath or declaration must be signed by the inventor (or a permitted substitute), not by the practitioner, even if the practitioner knows the facts to be true.
Under the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, a supervisory practitioner is responsible for another practitioner's ethical violation when:
Answer: The supervisory practitioner ordered, ratified, or knew of and failed to take remedial action for the misconduct
Under 37 CFR 11.505, a supervisory practitioner is responsible for misconduct they ordered, ratified, or failed to remedy after learning of it.
Which of the following is NOT an element required to establish inequitable conduct before the USPTO under Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson and Co.?
Answer: The withheld information was cumulative of other information already of record
Under Therasense, cumulative information is not material, so withholding information that is merely cumulative cannot establish inequitable conduct.
A practitioner receives a settlement offer from an opposing party and fails to communicate it to the client for three weeks. Under 37 CFR 11.104, the practitioner has:
Answer: Violated the duty to promptly inform the client of a settlement offer requiring their decision
Under 37 CFR 11.104, a practitioner must promptly inform the client of any settlement offer requiring the client's informed decision.
A registered patent practitioner discovers that a patent application they previously filed contains an inaccurate inventor declaration that was not intentionally false at the time but is now known to be erroneous. The practitioner should:
Answer: Advise the client to file a corrected declaration and correct the record before the USPTO
When a false statement of material fact in a prior submission is discovered, the practitioner must take reasonable remedial measures including advising the client to correct the record.
How this page was made: written with AI tools. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy
Sources & references
Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy