PIUG 2012 Annual Conference
An International Conference for Patent Information Professionals

View From a Mile High –
Best Practices in Analysis and Visualization of Patent Information

PIUG 2012 Annual Conference – Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the PIUG 2012 Annual Conference to be held at the Denver Marriott City Center in Denver, CO on April 28 - May 3rd, 2012. The theme for this 24th annual conference is "View From a Mile High - Best Practices in Analysis and Visualization of Patent Information".

We are particularly interested in papers from information users within corporations, patent offices, law firms, universities, individual or small consultancies and others who are able to discuss one of the following topics:

• Macro Level Patent Analysis and Visualization – Current & Future Best Practices in Patent Analysis and Visualization on large collections of patent information. For this we want to hear from patent information professionals who have worked in areas or on projects that have required the analysis and visualization of large collections of patent information. This work could have been done using text-mining, citation analysis or a related method of analyzing information.
• New Frontiers and Emerging Technologies in Analysis and Visualization – This session will focus on examples of what's new and what's on the horizon for analysis and visualization, especially with regards to incorporation and implementation of new technologies and tools for working with patent information either on a macro or micro level scale. We are also interested in hearing from groups who have begun applying analysis and visualization from other fields or corpus into the field of patent information.
• Micro Level Patent Analysis and Visualization – Current & Future Best Practices in Patent Analysis and Visualization of small collections of patent information or individual documents. While some of the same tools used for macro level analysis are used on smaller (micro) collections usually the way the tools are used or the tools themselves are quite different when working with fewer patents.
• The History of Patent Analysis and Visualization – For this session we are interested in speakers who can enlighten us as to the birth and development of the field of patent analysis. The field of patent analysis and visualization has been around for nearly 50 years and we would be interested in hearing historical perspectives on how the work has changed over the years.
• Analysis and Visualization in End User/Client Interactions and Education – One of the primary benefits of employing patent analysis and visualization is the interaction it allows patent information professionals to have with decision makers in their organizations. We are interested in hearing about examples where working with decision makers and clients in this area has benefited both them and us.
• Patent Office Updates – This session will focus on updates with regards to advances and changes in the practices of both major and minor patent offices. Talks from patent office staff, patent office liaisons as well as others having practical knowledge of this aspect are invited.
• Patent Law Updates – Major changes have taken place recently with the passage of the America Invents Act, a presentation on this topic was enthusiastically received at the recent NE Conference and we encourage speakers who are able to speak authoritatively on the practical implications of the new legislation to present at the 2012 Annual Conference. In addition, patent prosecution and litigation are affected by various court decisions and changes both in the law and from rulings and procedures from the patent offices. In turn, patent information professionals must be aware of these changes and how they affect methods and strategies to insure effective retrieval of proper information. Talks from patent attorneys, patent agents as well as others having practical knowledge of this aspect are invited
• Non-Patent Literature – Non-patent literature is a critical part of the patent information professional's work. We are interested in hearing from those who have worked in areas considered to be the best practices for searching, analysis and visualization of non-patent information.
• The Patent Information Professional – In this potential session we are interested in hearing from patent information professionals on topics that currently define or may define in the future the role of a patent information professional. For example, topics may include, but are not limited to, best practices, atypical roles for patent professionals in a large organization, starting an independent consultancy and certification.

If the above or related themes fall into your area of expertise or interest then we would like to hear from you!

In addition, the program will contain a session based on the popular and successful round table format used in the 2010 & 2011 Annual Conferences. If you are interested in participating in the organization of the round table session, would like to suggest topics you feel would be of interest to the PIUG community at large or would like to lead the discussion at one of the tables please let us know.

Please send your presentation title, abstract, proposed speaker name, company name, brief biography and full contact information to tony @ piug.org or ron.kaminecki @ dialog.com (remove spaces) on or before February 3, 2012 for full consideration. In order to provide more time for questions and interaction with the audience we will be accepting fewer presentations this year, allowing more time for speakers and allowing more time for questions. In addition, presentations will need to be provided to the Program Committee prior to the Annual Conference for review and feedback prior to being loaded into the presentation system. This is a change from previous years and is being done to provide a more consistent and higher-value experience to the attendees of the 2012 conference.

If you think you may be interested in speaking but require management approval beforehand, please let us know so that we can begin to consider your general proposal for a paper in the meantime (submission of just a few descriptive sentences will be sufficient). If you already have management approval to attend the 2012 meeting as a speaker please indicate this in your submission.

The organizers reserve the right to accept abstracts at their discretion in order to assemble the best possible program. Invited speakers may take precedence over other speakers. Please be advised that your abstract submission may be published on the Internet or elsewhere, shortly after receipt or at any time thereafter. Therefore, do not include confidential or business-sensitive information in your abstract.

If you would like to make a recommendation for a speaker on a particular topic or suggest another topic of interest, we would appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact the 2012 PIUG Annual Conference organizers with your views.

Further news about the program and updates regarding the conference will be posted on the PIUG Discussion Forum (PIUG-DF) and on the PIUG web site at www.piug.org.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to seeing you at the PIUG 2012 Annual Conference in Denver.

Anthony Trippe & Ron Kaminecki
Co-Chairs – Program Committee