Editorial policy

Patent Law University publishes free guides, summaries of new patent decisions and practice questions for people building a career in patent law. This page explains where the facts come from, how we use AI, and how we correct mistakes.

Sources

• Facts come from primary and official sources: statutes, regulations, the USPTO’s own pages and manuals, and court and agency decisions. For law school and bar admission we use the ABA’s accrediting section and the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ guide to the jurisdictions’ rules.
• Every guide lists its sources with the date we read them, and each section says which source supports it.
• We do not rely on blogs, law-firm articles or other commentary for facts.
• Figures about pay and the job market come from our own job board, and we say how they are counted.

How we use AI

• Guides are written with AI from facts gathered, with quotations, from the official sources each guide cites, and each section names the source that supports it. Our guides have not yet been reviewed by an attorney; each shows the date its facts were last checked against the sources.
• Case summaries are written with AI from the decision itself; a few archive entries show only the official listing. Each links to the official opinion or order, which is the authority. Read the decision before relying on a summary.
• Practice questions are drafted with AI from the exam’s source materials and then answered blind by a second AI model; a question is kept only when that check reaches the same answer and finds one defensible choice. Our rule is that the checker comes from a different company than the writer. Most of the current bank was checked, as a one-time exception, by a model from the same company, and we plan to recheck those questions; the free sample questions all passed a check by a different company’s model.

Updates and corrections

• Each guide shows when its facts were last checked. Rules, fees and exam details change; we recheck guides periodically and whenever we learn a source has changed.
• If you find a mistake, email corrections@patentlawprofessor.com with the page and the source that shows the error. We correct confirmed errors promptly and update the page’s checked date.

Not legal advice

Everything here is general information about the law and about careers, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your own situation, consult a lawyer or registered practitioner.

Independence

Our guides point to our own courses, job board and email lists where they help the reader. We do not accept payment to mention or rank another company’s products, and comparisons with other providers state only facts those providers publish.

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