Does the Computer Science Bachelor of Science rule apply to computer engineering?

No. The bulletin's Bachelor-of-Science requirement is a footnote to Computer Science only. Computer Engineering follows the general Category A rule for bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees.

My degree is in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Does that qualify?

Both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering are Category A subjects, but OED decides whether a combined title matches. Include your official transcript and course descriptions with the application to avoid a follow-up request.

Which USPTO Technology Centers examine computer engineering patents?

Mainly Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software and Information Security), 2400 (Computer Networks, Multiplex, Cable and Cryptography/Security) and 2800 (Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components).

Patent bar eligibility by degree

Computer Engineering and the Patent Bar

Computer Engineering is a listed Category A subject in the USPTO General Requirements Bulletin, so a bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. in computer engineering lets you apply for the patent bar without a course-by-course review.

Check your eligibility Full eligibility guide

At a glance

USPTO category: Category A
Listed subject: Computer Engineering
Degree levels: Bachelor's, master's or Ph.D.
Main Technology Centers: TC 2100, TC 2400, TC 2800

Checked against the August 2026 bulletin

Eligibility

Does a Computer Engineering degree qualify?

Yes. The USPTO General Requirements Bulletin (August 2026 edition) lists Computer Engineering in Category A, the degree-based route to the registration exam. An applicant with a bachelor's, master's or Doctor of Philosophy degree in a listed subject from an accredited U.S. college or university, or the foreign equivalent, meets the scientific and technical requirement without a course-by-course review.

The Bachelor-of-Science-only footnote in the bulletin applies to Computer Science, not Computer Engineering. A computer engineering degree follows the general Category A rule: bachelor's, master's or Ph.D.

Your OED application

Exactly what to submit

An official transcript from the college or university that shows the degree was awarded. A transcript issued to you is accepted if it carries the school's stamp or seal.
Not a diploma or a letter. A diploma, a copy of a transcript or a registrar's letter naming your degree does not meet the requirement.
Course descriptions if the title isn't an exact match. If your degree title differs from the listed subject, OED checks equivalence; the OED FAQ suggests sending course descriptions with the first application to avoid delay.
Foreign degrees: objective evidence of U.S. equivalence, such as an evaluation from a foreign-credential evaluation service, alongside the transcript.

The rest of the application (forms, fees and the moral-character questions) is covered step by step in the OED application guide.

Practice

Patent work for computer engineering graduates

Registered practitioners usually draft and prosecute applications in the technology they trained in. In this field that means work such as:

Technology area	Example inventions
Processor and memory architecture	Cache-coherency schemes, instruction pipelines, memory controllers.
Embedded systems and firmware	Microcontroller power management, real-time scheduling on constrained hardware.
Networking hardware	Packet scheduling in switches, network interface offload engines.
Integrated-circuit design	Clock distribution, on-chip interconnect, chip layout techniques.
Hardware security	Secure boot chains, side-channel countermeasures, trusted execution.

USPTO

Which Technology Centers examine this work

The USPTO routes each application to one of its Technology Centers by its classification. For computer engineering subject matter, these are the ones you will deal with most:

Technology Center	Why it applies
TC 2100 Computer Architecture, Software and Information Security	Processor, memory and computer-architecture claims, and security implemented in the computer itself.
TC 2400 Computer Networks, Multiplex, Cable and Cryptography/Security	Network hardware, multiplexing and cryptographic security.
TC 2800 Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components	Claims to the semiconductor device or circuit itself.

Routing follows each application's classification, so a single application can land outside these centers.

Patent law

Section 101 and functional claim language

Computer-implemented inventions raise two topics you will see on the exam and in office actions: subject-matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101 (the Alice/Mayo framework in MPEP 2106), and functional wording such as "a processing unit configured to…" that can invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (MPEP 2181).

The registration exam itself tests patent law and USPTO procedure from the MPEP, not your technical field. See the patent bar exam overview for format and scoring.

Pay data

What the occupation pays

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $161,740 for computer hardware engineers as of May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).

That figure is for the engineering or science occupation itself, not for patent agents or attorneys.

Other routes

If your degree title differs

Category A is matched on the subject your transcript names. Titles close to computer engineering are handled like this:

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Both subjects are listed, but the combined title is not printed in the bulletin. OED decides equivalence, so send course descriptions with the application.
Computer Science: A separate listed subject with its own rule: it must be a Bachelor of Science from an accredited college or university.
Computer Engineering Technology: Not on the Category A list. Expect a Category B review of your physics, chemistry and engineering coursework.

If you don't qualify under Category A, Category B counts science and engineering coursework (courses for science or engineering majors, grade C- or better):

Option 1: 24 semester hours in physics (physics courses for physics majors).
Option 2: 32 semester hours: 8 in chemistry or physics plus 24 in biology, botany, microbiology or molecular biology.
Option 3: 30 semester hours in chemistry (chemistry courses for chemistry majors).
Option 4: 40 semester hours: 8 in chemistry or physics plus 32 in other listed science and engineering subjects.

Category C is for applicants with a bachelor's degree who pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. Run your transcript through Do I Qualify? for a quick check, then read the full eligibility guide.

FAQ