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Design Patent Examiner

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Alexandria, Virginia
Closing date
May 18, 2021
Duties

Summary

Come work for the USPTO, we have been ranked as one of the best places to work in the federal government! The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been serving the economic interests of America for more than 200 years. We are responsible for granting US intellectual property rights for patents and trademarks. The USPTO is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and has over 12,000 employees. For more information about the USPTO, please visit the USPTO Jobs Website .

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

Due to COVID-19, the USPTO is operating in a state of maximum telework and most employees are teleworking full-time. Consequently, you will start your work in a temporary telework status and your training will occur in a virtual environment. Accordingly, you will commence work under a temporary telework arrangement that will remain in effect until the Agency informs you that you are no longer subject to its Situational (Ad Hoc) Telework Program. When the time comes, for example, if your original work location is established as the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA, you may be asked to report to campus. The USPTO will provide as much advance notice as possible in the event of this directive and will work with you to allow you a reasonable timeframe to transition.

A Design Patent Examiner (PE) performs work in the examination of applications for United States patents pertaining to the form, appearance, and ornamentation of objects. Incumbent uses professional knowledge of designs and practices to evaluate the invention claimed in each patent application. Incumbent uses a broad knowledge of past and current developments in design to uncover previous inventions, as represented by domestic and foreign patents, supply catalogs, style books, etc., that affect the novelty claimed in the application. Incumbent uses well developed visual aptitude, specialized knowledge of patent laws, rules, regulations and procedures to determine whether the application and its claimed invention meet all legal requirements for the granting of design patents.

GS-7: Perform basic patent examining functions with extensive instructions from the supervisor. Training will develop the ability to apply technical concepts to the patent examining process. Assignments combine performance of productive work with supervised on-the-job training.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related KSAs.
  • You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
  • Required to pass a background investigation and fingerprint check.
  • Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (www.sss.gov)
  • Suitable for Federal employment.


Specialized Experience Required: Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Applicants must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience which has equipped them with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, which is typical to the work of the position to be filled, and is equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-05) in the Federal Service.

Specialized experience is defined as experience in art involving areas such as industrial design, product design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, fine/studio arts, and art teacher education.

All requirements must be met by the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

Qualifications

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements for the advertised position: Design Patent Examining, 1226, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1200/design-patent-examining-series-1226/ OPM's prescribed Group Coverage Qualification Standards for Professional and Scientific Positions can be found at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Group-Standards

You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the job announcement.

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: To be considered for this position, you must have either:

(A) Degree (BA/BS) in industrial design, product design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, fine/studio arts or art teacher education OR courses equivalent to a major in one of the above disciplines; -OR-(B) a combination of related courses totaling at least at least 20 semester hours in industrial design, product design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, fine/studio arts, or art teacher education, plus appropriate experience or additional education; -OR- (C) four years of experience in the field of industrial design, product design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, fine/studio arts, or art teacher education that demonstrated knowledge of the fundamental principles of the field involved in the position to be filled equivalent to that which would have been obtained through successful completion of a full 4-year degree. All academic degrees and course work must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions.


ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: (In addition to the BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS)
For documentation requirements, see REQUIRED DOCUMENTS. GS-7:

A) Superior Academic Achievement (SAA). This can be defined by one of the following: 1) Class standing-Upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision; 2) Grade point average (GPA) as recorded on the final transcript- i) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on the official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or ii) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. The GPA is rounded to one decimal place. (2.95 = 3.0 and 2.94 = 2.9). The final transcript must cover the period being used to determine the GPA. 3) Honor Society membership--Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society. Click here for a list of qualified honor societies. -OR-

B) Have at least one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-7 grade level must have at least 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as experience performing at least one of the following functions: (1) Applying basic principles and concepts related to industrial design, product design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, fine/studio arts, or art education; (2) Planning and conducting technical research to draft technical papers; or (3) Applying Patent intellectual property laws and rules; -OR-

C) Have at least one year of graduate level education from an accredited college and/or university in the fields of study as described in the Basic Qualification Requirements. If the number of credit hours representing one year of full-time study cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours will be considered an academic year of graduate study. OR D) Have less than the full amount of graduate education as described in "C" above and less than the amount of experience described in "B" above, but have a combination "B" and "C" above.

Education

Positive education requirements for this position are listed in the "Qualifications" section of this vacancy announcement.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Qualifying education from colleges and universities in foreign countries must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. A listing of these accredited organizations can be found on the Department of Education's website - US Department of Education . Another listing of services that can perform this evaluation is available at the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) . You must provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation when requested will result in lost consideration.

NOTE: Only education and experience acquired before the filing deadline will be considered. Report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Additional information

Applicants applying for this position must be a United States Citizen.

If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System. If you are exempt from registration under Selective Service Law, you must provide appropriate proof of exemption. Please visit the Selective Service System website for more information.

This is a Bargaining Unit position.

This is a Public Trust position and has a risk level designation of "moderate".

Background Investigation - If selected for this position, you may be required to complete a Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306), which includes a fingerprint and credit check, to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation.

The USPTO participates in E-Verify. For more information on E-Verify, please visit http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm

Probationary Period- If selected, you may be required to complete an initial one-year probationary period.

All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.

Relocation Expenses are not authorized and will not be paid.

Individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transaction Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) will be eligible if it is determined that they have exceeded the minimum qualifications for the position by attaining a minimum rating of 85 out of 100. Information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management's Career Transition Resources website at: http://www.opm.gov/ctap/index.asp. CTAP/ICTAP documentation requirements are listed in the ‘Required Documents' section of this announcement.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade, and unit occur within 90 days from the date the certificate was issued.

All application materials become the property of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for the position. If you meet the minimum qualifications stated in the job opportunity announcement, we will compare your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation to your responses on the self-assessment questions (True/False, Yes/ No, Multiple Choice questions) and place you in one of three pre-defined categories. These categories are "gold," "silver," and "bronze." Your resume and/or optional cover letter must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. Candidates placed in the "gold" category will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview.

How you will be evaluated for preference eligibility:

Within each category, those entitled to veterans' preference will be listed at the top of the pre-defined category for which they are placed. Preference eligible with a service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest quality category (gold).

Veterans' preference is applied by listing preference eligible ahead of non-preference eligible within the same quality category in which they are placed. Qualified preference eligible with a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent will be placed at the top of the highest quality category (‘Best Qualified'), except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Qualified) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category.

The scored self assessment questions in the job announcement will evaluate you on the following competencies; please do not provide a separate written response:

KSA 1: Ability to analyze and interpret written technical materials, rules, regulations, instructions and reports.

KSA 2: Skill in oral communications in order to make clear and convincing oral presentations.

KSA 3: Ability to produce well-written information for technical material.

For more information on category rating, please go to: DOC Bulletins

Please note that a complete application is required for consideration. (Please review the "Required Documents" section of this job announcement to see what must be included in a complete application).

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

A complete application consists of:
1. A resume or any other written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications; optional cover letter: Your resume should indicate your citizenship and should list your educational and work experience including job titles, salary, employment dates, duties and accomplishments, experience and how it relates to the KSAs in the job announcement. Please Note: Responses to job questions that are not fully supported by the information in your resume may result in adjustments to your rating. Any experience claimed in a cover letter should be substantiated by information contained in your resume.

2. Transcripts: (for Individual Occupational Requirements and/or Substitution of Education for specialized experience): You MUST submit copies of your college transcripts for verification of the education requirements. Unofficial copies are acceptable, however, if selected you will be required to furnish official transcripts. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the above educational requirements. Inadequate or illegible information could result in non-qualification and loss of consideration.

Supporting Documents:
PLEASE NOTE: Applicants who meet the minimum eligibility and qualification requirements for this position may be contacted within 7 business days of the closing date of this announcement to submit follow-up supporting documentation if applicable. Applicants claiming veterans' preference entitlement or CTAP/ICTAP eligibility who fail to submit supplemental documentation within 5 business days of receiving the request will not lose consideration for this position, however they will not be entitled to special or priority consideration.

Supporting documents that may be requested of applicants after the closing date of this announcement are

1. Veterans' Preference Documentation: If you are a veteran with preference eligibility, you will be asked to submit a copy of your DD-214 containing your discharge disposition, dates of service, and rank. If you are a preference eligible claiming a service connected disability of 10 percent or more, you will be asked to submit documentation (i.e. a letter dated 1991 or later from the Department of Veterans Affairs or from a branch of the Armed Forces) certifying to the veteran's present receipt of compensation. Veterans must include dates of military service within the automated application process, and submit a copy of each Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD-214. For more information, please visit Special Appointing Authorities for Veterans .

2. Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) documentation: Applicants will be asked to submit:
(1) A copy of your specific RIF notice, written notice of your expected separation or other documentation of priority consideration status;
(2) A copy of your latest SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location;
(3) A copy of your last performance appraisal including your rating; and
(4) Any documentation from your agency that shows your current promotion potential.

You can choose ONE of the following methods to submit Supporting Documents:
1) You can upload your documents when you register or update your information on the Department of Commerce application site which you access through the USAJobs site.
OR
2) You can fax your documents to 571-258-4254 using the system generated fax cover sheet.

Your application and all required documentation must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date of this job announcement.

NOTE: The preceding documentation requirements are based on job requirements and individual applicant eligibility. Not all documents are applicable to all applicants--if you are unsure which documents apply to you, contact the HR Specialist listed on this announcement.

Review your resume and responses carefully. Responses to job questions that are not fully supported by the information in your application package may result in adjustments to your rating. A Human Resources Representative will validate the qualifications of those candidates eligible to be referred to the hiring official.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

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