Does a fashion design degree qualify?

Not under Category A. Fashion design is not a listed Category A subject.

Which USPTO Technology Center examines textile patents?

Technology Center 1700, whose Group 1780 covers fabrics and stock material. Design patents on patterns and garment shapes go to Technology Center 2900.

Patent bar eligibility by degree

Textile Engineering & Technology and the Patent Bar

The USPTO General Requirements Bulletin lists Textile Technology and, since 2021, Textile Engineering in Category A. They cover the same field, so this page treats them together. A bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. in either subject qualifies you to apply for the patent bar.

Check your eligibility Full eligibility guide

At a glance

USPTO category: Category A
Listed subjects: Textile Engineering, Textile Technology
Degree levels: Bachelor's, master's or Ph.D.
Main Technology Centers: TC 1700, TC 2900

Checked against the August 2026 bulletin

Eligibility

Does a Textile Engineering & Technology degree qualify?

Yes. The USPTO General Requirements Bulletin (August 2026 edition) lists Textile Engineering, Textile Technology 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.

Fashion design, textile design and apparel merchandising degrees are not Category A. Check the exact title on your transcript.

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 textile engineering & technology 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
Fibers and yarns	Bicomponent fibers, recycled polyester, spinning processes.
Fabric structures	3D knits, nonwovens, spacer fabrics.
Technical textiles	Ballistic fabrics, geotextiles, medical textiles.
Finishing and dyeing	Waterless dyeing, flame-retardant finishes.
Textile machinery	Knitting machines, looms.

USPTO

Which Technology Centers examine this work

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

Technology Center	Why it applies
TC 1700 Chemical and Materials Engineering	Its Group 1780 covers fabrics and stock material.
TC 2900 Designs	Design patents on fabric patterns and garment shapes.

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

Patent law

Design patents alongside utility patents

Surface patterns and the shape of textile products are protected by design patents (35 U.S.C. 171; MPEP chapter 1500), examined in Technology Center 2900. Registration through Category A covers design applications as well as utility applications, so textile practitioners often handle both.

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.

Other routes

If your degree title differs

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

Textile Chemistry: Not printed in the bulletin. OED decides equivalence to Textile Technology or a chemistry listing.
Polymer and Fiber Engineering: Not printed in the bulletin. OED decides equivalence; include course descriptions.
Fashion Design, Textile Design or Apparel Merchandising: Not Category A.

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