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Patent Information Users Group, Inc.

The International Society for Patent Information Professionals

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Patent Information Users Group, Inc.  The International Society for Patent Information Professionals


PIUG 2011 Annual Conference
An International Conference for Patent Information Professionals

Best Practices Beyond Free-text: The Value of Indexing and Classification when Searching and Analyzing Patents

Overview | Program | Conference Materials (PIUG members only) | Sponsors | Travel | Workshops

Saturday, May 21 through Thursday, May 26, 2011

Hyatt Regency Cincinnati
151 West Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
+1 513-579-1234

Conference Program

Conference Events

Registration covers all these conference events:

  • Speakers/Dinner (by invitation only) – Saturday evening, May 21, 7:00pm
  • PIUG Business Meeting – Sunday afternoon, May 22, 4:00-5:30pm
  • First-Time Attendees Reception – Sunday evening, May 22, 6:15-7:00pm
  • Welcome Reception – Sponsored by Questel – Sunday evening, May 22, 7:00-9:00pm
  • IPI Award Ceremony and Dinner Celebration – Monday night, May 23, 7:00pm
  • Conference breakfasts, lunches, and refreshments during meeting breaks – Monday-Wednesday, May 23-25
  • IFFI Players Production and dessert reception – Tuesday evening, May 24, 8:30pm
  • PIUG Committee Meetings – Wednesday May 24, time and locations to be determined by committee members

Early-bird registration closes March 25, 2011. The deadline for Advanced Registration closes Friday, May 13, 2011. On-site registration may be possible if space is available. See full details on the Registration page.

In addition, workshops will be held on Saturday May 21, Sunday May 22, and Thursday, May 26. Details are on the workshops page.

Technical Session – Monday to Wednesday

Locations: Technical Session in Regency A/B/C. Exhibits Hall in Regency C/D/E/F.

Monday, May 23
Morning
7:30-8:30am Breakfast
Location: Exhibits Hall
Sponsored by PIUG
8:30-8:40am Welcome
Anthony Trippe, PIUG Chair, 3LP Advisor
8:40-8:50am Brian Stockdale Award Presentation
Edlyn Simmons, Simmons Patent Information Service, LLC
8:50-9:40am Keynote Presentation
Jeff Weedman, VP of Licensing, P&G
9:40-10:10am Break – Sponsored by ProQuest/Dialog
10:10-11:50am Session A – Current Practices in Indexing and Classification – Opening Remarks
Brian Bridgewater – The Dow Chemical Company
10:10-10:35am The DWPI Value-Add Process – Why 36 Patent Offices Worldwide Trust DWPI For Their Research
Bob Stembridge, Thomson Reuters
10:35-11:00am IFI CLAIMS (Class Assignee Index Method Search) – Over Fifty Years of Indexing Polymer Chemistry in Patents
Ricardo Vieira , Fairview Research
11:00-11:25am Chemical Indexing as a Precision Tool for Relevant Patent Retrieval
John Zabilski, Chemical Abstracts Service
11:25-11:50am A Class on Classification
Jim Brown, FIZ Karlsruhe
11:50-noon Product Updates
Monday, May 23
Afternoon

noon-1:00pm Service Award Presentations
Lunch – Sponsored by STN International
Location: Exhibits Hall
1:00-2:20pm Session B – USPTO Patent and Technology Reforms: Supporting the Mandate to Bring Innovations to Market Quickly – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Dana Moore, Cytec Industries, Inc.
1:00-1:25pm Potential Changes on the Horizon in US Patent Law and at the US Patent Office
Marla Grossman, Coalition for Patent and Trademark Information Dissemination
1:25-1:55pm Introducing User-Centered Design at the USPTO for Modernization of the Patent Examination IT System
Marti Hearst, USPTO
1:55-2:20pm Classification-based Searching in the Chemical and Medical Field
Jennifer Yancy, Yancy IP Law
2:20-2:35pm Product Updates
2:35-3:05pm Break – Sponsored by GenomeQuest
3:05-4:35pm Session C – New Frontiers and Emerging Technologies in Indexing and Classification – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Barry Brager,, Perception Partners
3:05-3:25pm Research IP On Your Own Terms: How Applying Your Own Indexing Adds Organizational Context To Patent Information Management
Cindy Poulos, Thomson Reuters
3:25-3:45pm Embodiment-Based Indexing and Classification
Daniel J. Henry, Accupatent
3:45-4:05pm Natural Language Processing Techniques at the service of patent searching and analyzing
Miguel Iglesias, Questel
4:05-4:35pm Classifying Non-Patent Literature Using Regular Expressions
Barry Brager, Perception Partners
4:35-4:50pm Product Updates
7:00pm IPI Award Dinner
Cocktails at 7:00pm (cash bar), dinner at 7:30pm
Sponsored by STN
Location: Exhibits Hall
Tuesday, May 24
Morning

7:15-8:15m Breakfast
Sponsored by PIUG
Location: Exhibits Hall
8:15-8:30am Product Updates
8:30-10:00am Session D – New Frontiers and Emerging Technologies in Indexing and Classification – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Kristin Whitman, Landon IP
8:30-8:50am Indexing Patent Literature Using Semiotic Fingerprints
George M. Garrity*, Charles Parker and Catherine Lyons, NamesforLife, LLC
8:50-9:10am Contextual Classification: Patent References in Industry Sources
Doug Miller, Innography
9:10-9:30am Network Patent Analysis to Characterise the Quality of Inventions: A Case Study of Hybrid Car Patents
George Mokdsi, Griffith Hack
9:30-9:50am CPC: EPO and USPTO’s Joint Cooperative PatentClassification System
Christopher Kim, USPTO; and Pierre Held, EPO
9:50-10:00am Q&A
10:00-10:15am Product Updates
10:15-10:45pm Break – Sponsored by INTELLIXIR
10:45-11:45am Session E – Best Practices in Search, Analysis and Visualization – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Malcolm Hallam, ExxonMobil Research & Engineering
10:45-11:05am Best Practice and Optimization Techniques in Assignee Based Search
Rajiv Gidla and Nisha Nambiar, Dolcera
11:05-11:25am What’s So Special about Invalidity Searching?
Thomas E. Wolff, Wolff Information Consulting LLC
11:25-11:45am The Bibliometric's of Non-Patent Literature
Ron Rodrigues, Dialog
11:45-noon Product Updates
Tuesday, May 24
Afternoon

noon-1:00pm Lunch
Sponsored by Thomson Reuters
Location: Exhibits Hall
1:00-6:00pm Extended break and Exhibit Room open for Product Reviews/Showcase
Break Sponsored by Minesoft
Location: Exhibits Hall
1:00-2:00pm Session F – The Patent Information Professional – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Anthony Trippe, 3LP Advisors
1:00-1:20pm IP in Business Strategy: Evolution of the Information Specialist
Narayan Subramanian, GE Energy Storage
1:20-1:35pm Finding Common Ground: Negotiating the Obstacles in Devising a Patent Searcher Certification Exam
Susanne Hantos, Davies Collison Cave
1:35-1:50pm A Status Update on the Development of Certification of Patent Information Professionals
Aalt van de Kuilen, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V.
1:50-2:00pm Q&A/Discussion on Certification with Tony, Aalt and Susanne
3:15-6:15pm EPO and USPTO Master Class: Understanding the World's Major patent Classification Schemes
Christopher Kim, USPTO; Pierre Held, EPO; and Jutta Hausser, EPO
8:30pm IFFI Play and Ice Cream Social
Location: Regency A/B/C
Wednesday, May 25
Morning

7:30-8:30am Breakfast
Sponsored by PIUG
Location: Exhibits Hall
8:30-8:45am Product Updates
8:45-10:05am Session G – Updates from Patent Offices, Chair: Stephen Adams – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Stephen Adams, Magister Ltd.
8:45-9:05am Community Patent Developments
Stephen Adams, Magister Ltd.
9:05-9:35am Update from the Gulf Cooperation Council Patent Office
Mohammed Al-Hajeri, SABIC
9:35-9:55am Chinese Patent Data and Its Processing
Chuan Shen, Vice director of Business Development, Department of Intellectual Property Publishing House (China)
9:55-10:05am The role of the Patent Offices Committee
Stephen Adams, Magister Ltd.
10:05-10:20am Product Updates
10:20-10:50pm Break – Sponsored by Search Technology/VantagePoint
10:50-12:10pm Session H – Best Practices in Patent Information Search and Analysis – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – Jennifer Yancy, Yancy IP Law
10:50-11:10pm Patent Space Exploration: an application of Markush structure enumeration and search
Timea Polgar, ChemAxon Ltd.
11:10-11:30pm Tools for Optimizing the Value from Patent Information by Relevant Indexing and Proper Management of Patent Information, Especially Those for Simplifying Analysis and Visualization of Gene Sequences
Ashish Nawani, Evaluserve
11:30-11:50pm New Methods for In-depth Classification Code Analysis
David Gange, Chemistry Patent Search
11:50-12:10pm Indexing Gene Sequences in Indian Patents
Anu Vaidyanathan, PatNMarks
12:10-12:20pm Product Updates
Wednesday, May 25
Afternoon

12:20-1:20pm Lunch including Bingo Card drawing
Sponsored by PIUG
Location: Exhibits Hall
1:30-3:00pm Panel Discussion: Crowdsourcing Patent Research: A Practical Use of Patent Information in Business
Moderator – Ray Felts, Article One Partners
Panelists: Keith Bergelt, Open Invention Network
Ria Farrell Schalnat, Frost Brown Todd LLC
Andrea Casillas, Peer to Patent Project, Center for Patent Innovations at New York Law School
3:00-3:30pm Break – Sponsored by PIUG
3:30-5:10pm Session J – Getting more out of Indexing and Classification – Opening Remarks
Chairperson – David Gange, Chemistry Patent Search
3:30-3:50pm Search The Way You Think
Arleen Malley Zank, Coronado Group, Ltd.
3:50-4:10pm Diff'rent Strokes - Improving Patent Information Report Quality and Value in View of Variations
Yateen Pargaonkar, P&G Beauty Care
4:10-4:30pm Machine Translation and Multilingual Search for the Patent Domain: European Research Efforts and Perspectives
Mihai Lupu, Information Retrieval Facility, and Aalt van de Kuilen, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V.
4:30-4:50pm Revisiting the IPC-SIC Concordance
Raj Hirwani,CSIR-URDIP
4:50-5:10pm Approximating Technology Anomalies via Patent Classification
Ron Kaminecki, Dialog
5:10-5:40pm Closing Remarks
Anthony Trippe, PIUG Chair, 3LP Advisor
Evening (TBD) Committee Meetings (signup and make arrangements at the Conference)


Conference Abstracts and Biographies

 Keynote Presentation

Abstract

Pending.

Jeff Weedman
VP of Licensing
P&G

Biography

Jeff Weedman has been responsible for P&G's External Business Development organization since its inception in 1996. Mr. Weedman launched an entrepreneurial licensing department charged with the commercialization of P&G's treasure trove of patents, trademarks, and know-how. Now transformed into a robust External Business Development organization, the group has a broad mission to create value through intellectual property management, including enabling "Connect + Develop"-P&G's open innovation strategy that looks to access external technologies, "cooked products," capabilities and business propositions. In addition to Mr. Weedman's long and diverse career at Procter & Gamble, he serves as an observing Board Member to P&G's and Clorox's Glad Products joint venture, has served as an observing Board Member with yet2.com, and is currently on the board of Northern Kentucky University's Research Foundation.


The DWPI Value-Add Process - Why 36 Patent Offices Worldwide Trust DWPI For Their Research

Abstract

DWPI is the most trusted source of patent information which provides researchers around the world with accurate and authoritative data on which to base confident decisions. Researchers value the enhanced English language titles, comprehensive abstracts and expert indexing which allow insights that might otherwise be missed.

But how is the raw data from the original patent documents turned into the meaningful information within DWPI? When a brand new patent application arrives through the door, what happens then? Who does the indexing, how do the Manual Codes get assigned?

Learn how an original patent document is transformed into a DWPI record. Using a specific patent document, we will explore the value-add process from the initial treatment of raw bibliographic data to correct data errors and produce the DWPI patent family through to a detailed look at how the abstract, manual codes and deep indexing are created. Discover what goes into providing you with the full strength value-added DWPI record to help you get your job done more efficiently and effectively.

Bob Stembridge
Customer Relations Manager
Thomson Reuters

Biography

Bob Stembridge graduated from University of Sussex, UK with an Honours degree in Chemistry. He joined Derwent (one of the founding components of the IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters) in 1980 and has held various roles in editorial, marketing, sales and product development over the years. Leaving in 1988 for interludes working as Senior Information Analyst specialising in patent analytics at British Petroleum and European Sales Liaison with Dialog, he returned to Thomson Reuters in 1996 and most recently became Customer Relations Manager with responsibility for liaison with customer user groups for the organisation.

He is a member of several industry bodies (ACS, CILIP and PIUG) and has spoken at numerous conferences and symposia over many years.


IFI CLAIMS (Class Assignee Index Method Search) - Over Fifty Years of Indexing Polymer Chemistry in Patents

Abstract

Patent searching is complex. Chemical patent searching for polymers is downright impossible without good value-added tools such as chemical indexing services. There are no automated tools for polymer searching, and you cannot text search an image of a polymer. As difficult as polymer searching can be today, imagine how such problems were tackled back in the 60's. IFI has been indexing polymer chemistry since 1955, using one of the earliest polymer indexing systems developed for patents.

An overview of how IFI's patent indexing came to be, and how indexing and search methodology has changed over the last 5 decades, will be detailed with examples from our rich history, including:

  • early approaches to polymer indexing and searching, before the days of computers
  • stages in the evolution of IFI's current-day system, with recollections from one of IFI's most experienced polymer indexers
  • case studies showing why the IFI system has stood the test of time

We include a look to the future, to see how new technology from IFI's parent company, Fairview Research, can work in synergy with IFI, to offer fresh approaches to chemical indexing throughout the patent domain, and inspire a new generation of patent searchers.

Ricardo Vieira
Fairview Research LLC

Biography

Rick joined Fairview Research in January 2008 as a partner focusing on strategic business consulting particularly in the area of product design and business development. Rick has pursued a dynamic career in the intellectual property and innovation information industry where he has designed, developed, and promoted a range of pioneering new products and services. Rick spent 9 years at MicroPatent (London), then 2 years in the chemical and drug information business of Prous Science (Barcelona). In 2005 he founded DesignMuster which became the DesignFinder division of Questel (Paris) in 2006.


Chemical Indexing as a Precision Tool for Relevant Patent Retrieval

Abstract

For more than one hundred years, patent searchers have used chemical indexing systems to guide their way through the ever increasing onslaught of published documents. Several key indexing systems have developed utilizing controlled vocabulary and chemical substance codification to help pinpoint relevant patent information. CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) remains as one of the early pioneers in providing standardized chemical terminology from many different sources and languages. Frequently, the quality of the original is improved by correcting errors and including concepts not completely described in the document. This presentation will explore how indexing evolves, the indexing process, and how CA indexing can be used to enhance relevant search retrieval.

John Zabilski
Senior Project Manager
Chemical Abstracts Service

Biography

John Zabilski is a Senior STN Product Manager for Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society. In his current position, John is responsible for content enhancements for the CAS files. In his most recent position, John's primary responsibility was STN training for major accounts with a focus on patent and substance information. John has been employed by CAS for nearly 30 years where he has held positions in several areas including editorial indexing (inorganic/organometallic), the STN Help Desk, and the STN search service. John holds a Bachelor in Chemistry from Cornell University and a MBA from Ohio State University. John is also a registered US Patent Agent.


A Class on Classification

Abstract

Patent classifications are powerful tools in performing comprehensive and efficient searches. Patent documents are classified by many different classification systems, including the International, European, U.S. and-or Japanese patent classification systems, as well as value-added systems such as the Derwent classification system. This talk will give an overview of the major classification systems; how to find the proper classifications in each system, how they are applied, updated, etc. Also included in the talk will be an example showing the benefits of the using a classification system.

Jim Brown
FIZ Karlsruhe, Inc.

Biography

Jim Brown joined FIZ Karlsruhe, Inc in 2008 as a Regional Sales Manager. His current duties include customer trainings, authoring workshop manuals and presentations, and representing FIZ at conferences and exhibitions. Before FIZ, Jim worked at IFI Patent Intelligence for 23 years. At IFI, Jim started as a chemical patent indexer, and then moved on to chemical patent indexing and search training. He was also a special indexing project manager and technical representative. Jim has a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware.


Potential Changes on the Horizon in US Patent Law and at the US Patent Office.

Abstract

Several important potential changes are on the horizon in US patent law and at the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in Congress's House of Representatives has indicated that patent law reform will be one of his top priorities this year. Issues that affect the patent information user community such as post grant review and re-examination, supplemental examinations, third party submission of prior art and prior public availability will be addressed.

Meanwhile, the PTO is not standing by, waiting for Congress to act. It has its own agenda to reform the patent system through administrative changes at the agency. The PTO's End to End Patent Program is intended to result in the delivery of an enhanced internal user search and retrieval system and may have implications for the patent search profession. In addition, in response to President Obama's Open Government Initiative to provide increased transparency of Government operations and information by making more patent and trademark bulk data in machine readable format available to the public via the Internet, the PTO has started its Public Dissemination Solution project. Moreover, the PTO has initiated the second pilot program of its Peer to Patent Pilot Program.

This presentation will discuss the implications to the patent information user community of this year's patent reform proposals as well as such PTO programs as the End to End Patent program, the Public Dissemination Solution project and the Peer to Patent Pilot Program.

Marla Grossman
Coalition for Patent and Trademark Information Dissemination

Biography

Marla Grossman has practiced public policy law in Washington DC for over seventeen years. She is currently a partner at the American Continental Group (ACG) where she focuses on intellectual property and technology government relations matters. Prior to that, Ms. Grossman was a partner at the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (now part of DLA Piper US LLP), where she headed the Internet Ventures Practice Group.

Ms. Grossman has been featured in the Washington Business Journal: "Women Who Mean Business: Honoring the Region's Most Influential Business Women" (November 2004), the National Journal (2009), the Washingtonian Magazine (September 2001), and the New York Times (March 20, 2000).

From 1997-1999, Ms. Grossman served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she was instrumental in the development of intellectual property and technology policy positions and initiatives for current Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Before working on Capitol Hill, she served as the Assistant Director of Public Liaison and Director of Law Enforcement Outreach for the Clinton-Gore 1996 presidential campaign.

Ms. Grossman has lectured extensively on intellectual property, technology and entertainment issues and has served as a guest lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government from 1995-2000.

Ms. Grossman received her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa). She is admitted to the Maryland and District of Columbia bars.


Introducing User-Centered Design at the USPTO for Modernization of the Patent Examination IT System

Abstract

The USPTO has embarked on a major project called Patents End-to-End, the goal of which is to reengineer both the processes and the IT for patent examination. This project is making use of User-Centered Design, which is standard practice in industry but new for the USPTO. The key idea is to work very closely with the end users of the system at every stage of the IT development process, and to use their responses to inform the design. For the patent examiners' user interface, we interviewed, focus grouped, and surveyed hundreds of examiners and supervisors to determine what features they wanted in the new system. We then invited the entire Patent Corps to evaluate three different user interface designs; more than 2000 people participated. I will demonstrate the current design during this talk.

We are also soliciting input from our external stakeholders on their ideas for what the new interfaces should be for application filing, interacting with the office during patent prosecution, and many other topics, and I will report on those results to date as well as solicit responses from members of the audience.

Marti Hearst
USPTO

Biography

Dr. Marti Hearst is currently serving as Chief IT Strategist at the USPTO, while on leave from her job as a Professor at UC Berkeley. While at the PTO, Dr. Hearst is helping to modernize the patent examination and trademark examination systems, and helping implement the administration's open government initiatives. Dr. Hearst's areas of expertise include user interfaces for search, including pioneering research on faceted navigation, and a recently completed book, Search User Interfaces.


Classification-based Searching in the Chemical and Medical Field

Abstract

This presentation will include examples of classification-based searching using the EAST database provided at the USPTO. Specific attention will be given to the usefulness of the US and International Classification systems for searching chemical and medical technologies. Suggestions will be provided as to when classification-based searching may be more beneficial over keyword-based searching and examples will be provided to illustrate the different search strategies. Additional examples will be provided on the usefulness of combining classification and keyword-based searching to more efficiently search prior art.

Jennifer Yancy
Yancy IP Law

Biography

Since 1998, Jennifer has worked in the IP field at IP law firms and was a shareholder at a firm for several years before starting her own practice in 2010. Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University in 1995 and received her law degree from George Mason University in 2002 focusing her studies on intellectual property law. During school, she concurrently worked as a patent researcher conducting patentability, infringement, and validity searches at the USPTO. Jennifer became a patent agent in 2000 and a member of the Virginia State Bar in 2002. Jennifer's practice includes various phases of patent and trademark law and she counsels universities, corporations and individual clients on patent and trademark related issues and protection of inventions. Jennifer's patent practice specializes in agricultural technologies, polymer chemistry, organic/inorganic chemistry, chemical manufacturing, biotechnical technologies, and medical applications.


(Primary entry) Research IP On Your Own Terms: How Applying Your Own Indexing Adds Organizational Context To Patent Information Management

Abstract

Standard classification and indexing solutions are available in the form of IPC and national classifications from patent offices, and proprietary solutions such as DWPI Manual Codes from database providers like Thomson Reuters. While these are important keys for initial search and categorization of results, they lack the context of how the technology described within patents is relevant to your organization.

Using your own indexing and classification schema within an IP research environment can help improve how you provide current awareness for discovery & prior art research, work with technical experts to categorize IP research results, and better collaborate and use internal expertise.

In this presentation, we will review the workflow of an IP professional using Custom Fields and discover how to:

  • Reduce the time it takes to distribute relevant information throughout an organization by tagging records with relevancy indicators to help R&D colleagues assess technologies or to help identify potential prior art for legal review;
  • Improve the quality of IP research by allowing internal subject matter experts to evaluate and add internal categorizations to research results directly
  • Increase productivity by attaching a process stage to patent records in alert results, indicating when they're ready for the next participant in the process to take action

Cindy Poulos
Vice President of Product Management, IP Solutions
Thomson Reuters

Biography

Cindy Poulos is Vice President of Product Management for the IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters. She is responsible for product management and strategy across the patent product suite.

Cindy has more than 20 years of strategic product experience, including significant expertise in marketing products and services of fast-growing technology companies. Originally part of Delphion, an intellectual property research firm spun out of IBM, Cindy joined Thomson Reuters as part of the Delphion acquisition in 2002.

Cindy holds a master's degree in business administration from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University. She is based in Lisle, Illinois.


Embodiment-Based Indexing and Classification

Abstract

Embodiment-based indexing and classification is a new technology to improve patent search results. Drawing elements of a patent are extracted and mapped to particular drawing pages and regions of text to identify embodiments within each patent document. The identification of embodiments may be tailored for the particular technologies involved, and the current research targets mechanical and electrical systems.

Embodiment indexing is a new method that identifies and extracts embodiments within documents for ranking and retrieval. This is in stark contrast to the state of the art indexing systems that are document-based and simply index the document text. Embodiment indexing allows for the retrieval and ranking of documents based on embodiment subsets within the documents. Not only is the results list improved for accuracy, but each document may present multiple areas of interest. Additional improvements to visualization of the results are provided by identifying the "best drawing" associated with the search, instead of simply providing the front-page image. The "best drawing" visualization allows a searcher to quickly identify whether the relevant embodiment is of interest, thus reducing the time required for an accurate search.

Embodiment classification extracts hidden (i.e., un-classified) embodiments from publications and allows for secondary classification that may not have been done by the Patent Office. The system provides a second-look at all patent documents for embodiments that could have been classified, but were not. Embodiments are extracted from a patent publication and may be classified based on analysis of typical elements in each existing class / subclass. The system then presents the patent documents as an alternative result in a class / subclass search, thereby discovering the hidden embodiments that were not classified.

An example of embodiment classification is where patent claims do not include all of the embodiments discussed in an application. The Patent Office may have classified the document based on the claims, and ignored the un-claimed embodiments. However, the un-claimed and un-classified embodiments have significant value as prior art and may be difficult to find simply using full-text searching. The embodiment classification system solves this problem by identifying those documents that have embodiments fitting the searched classification.

The embodiment-based search engine is scheduled for public release in April of 2011.

Daniel J. Henry
AccuPatent

Biography

Daniel J. Henry is a Michigan attorney and a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Daniel is co-founder and chief technology officer for AccuPatent, Inc., a patent search and document enhancement company. He also owns a patent law practice, Henry Patents PLLC, where he specializes in patent prosecution and client counseling.

Daniel began his law career as a patent prosecutor at Rader, Fishman & Grauer, a boutique Intellectual Property firm. His most recent experience was with Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn where he was a partner specializing in Intellectual Property, including client counseling, patent prosecution, patent infringement analysis, patent reexaminations, and transactional matters.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Daniel was an inventor, named on several patents for electrical and software control systems for surgical devices. He also worked in the automotive industry as a Staff Engineer.

Daniel holds a Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.


Natural Language Processing Techniques at the service of patent searching and analyzing

Abstract

Through a case-study based on the automotive industry, we will present how the NLP (Natural Language Processing) techniques, combined with traditional patent classifications, can greatly enhance the searching process.

What NLP techniques are and how they work:

  • Cross-language searching through ontologies
  • Systematic MT (Machine Translation of data allowing full-text search in English)
  • Creation of key content fields (automatic abstracting & concept extraction)

The combination of those techniques with traditional patent classifications:

  • Allows to easily and quickly search for equivalents and relevant prior art
  • Can be extended to the content in two directions (search classifications and see results and statistics on concepts, search concepts or keywords and see results and statistics on classifications)
  • Makes (re-)execution of complex strategies easier:
    • On the full text ("the needle in the haystack" approach)
    • On the key content (less noise, more focused on strong elements)
    • On the concepts themselves (less silence and better response time)

Miguel Iglesias
Questel

Biography

Miguel Iglesias started his career in the field eight years ago as an Account Executive in Paris, France. Prior to that, after obtaining a Master's Degree in Technical and Economical Translation from the Sorbonne University, he had worked as a technical translator specialized in patents. He was relocated to the United States four years ago and is now Questel's Sales Manager for the Americas.


Classifying Non-Patent Literature Using Regular Expressions

Abstract

Non-patent literature (NPL) databases present unique challenges. Data are far more heterogeneous than in patents, and typically only abstracts may be used as full text sources. However, it is often incumbent upon the searcher to group relevant literature records into categorical "buckets" to be organized and named in terms a client would understand. Category development in NPL is not trivial and often eludes the casual searcher. In fact, there are many challenges in defining categories. These challenges stem from the burden on the searcher and/or the client to imagine and document rules that can select for category of interest - and then repeat this process across multiple categories. Once such lists are known, actually applying them to large sets of NPL record lists can also be daunting. A regular expression is a pattern that can match various text strings. Systematic use of regular expressions can help address the categorization problem. Many software tools rely on regular expressions as a means of categorization. Using regular expressions, topics (such as features and benefits) and text patterns (such as acronyms or measurements) become "selectable and detectable" for categorization, using fuzzy rules that can be surprisingly easy to create. This presentation will demonstrate how use of regular expressions can enable transparent, documented categorization rules that are both customizable and repeatable in client-driven search projects. From this foundation, it will be possible to further demonstrate high-throughput screening of NPL by using records with abstracts categorized using customized lists of regular expressions. The presentation will wrap up by explaining the potential for further use of regular expressions in categorizing NPL, such as designing categories to implement TRIZ-based screening (a popular innovation analysis method) or sentiment analysis (useful in mining social content or creating data journalism).

Barry Brager
Perception Partners

Biography

Barry Brager is the Founder and Managing Partner of Perception Partners®. He brings a unique combination of expertise in analytics and marketing to the firm's diverse teams, tools and techniques. In his role, Barry helps clients fully leverage innovation and intellectual property with technology investment, business development and transactional Solution Suites that have supported decisions related to more than $1 billion in financial transactions.

Barry is recognized as a leader in the IP industry. In 2009 and again in 2010, Barry was named one of the world's Leading IP Strategists in the global IAM250, published by IAM Magazine. In 2008, he completed his second term as Small Business Committee Chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Association based in Washington D.C. He also co-chaired the Licensing Executives Society USA-Canada Annual Meeting in the same year. Barry is a frequent speaker on IP strategy and the links between IP analytics and competitive advantage.

Barry graduated with a B.F.A. from Temple University, and subsequently completed Emory University's top 10 globally-ranked Executive MBA program, graduating Beta Gamma Sigma and first in his class.


Community Patent Developments

Abstract

There have been a number of attempts within the EU, since at least 1975, to agree a regime for a single so-called Community Patent. So far, agreement has proved impossible. This talk will review the latest moves towards what is now called the 'unitary patent', which will exist in parallel with the existing European Patent due to different memberships in the EU and the EPO. The development of the various EU-wide institutions and the operation of EU law will be used to set the context and show why progress has proved so elusive to date. Much of the detail of the documentation has yet to be finalised, but the presentation will outline some likely scenarios for the information stream which the new system will generate.

Stephen Adams
Magister Ltd.

Biography

Stephen Adams is managing director of Magister Ltd., a UK-based consultancy in patent information founded in 1997. Stephen is a past Director-at-Large of PIUG Inc. (2002-2006) and has held positions in the UK's Patent and Trade Mark Group (PATMG). Magister Ltd has a wide range of clients for its consulting and training activities, including national patent offices, database producers and the user community in industry.

Update from the Gulf Cooperation Council Patent Office

Abstract

The Patent Office of the Gulf Cooperation Council was founded in 1995 and started to operate granting procedures from 1998. It grants patents on behalf of six member states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This presentation will provide an overview of the information services provided by the office, and the possibilities of searching for GCC documentation.

Mohammed Al-Hajeri
SABIC

Biography

Mr. Mohammed Al-Hajeri holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in microbiology from King Saud University, Riyadh. He worked as a Patent Examiner in the General Directorate of Patents in King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) between 1991-1999, during which time he was seconded to assist in the setting up of the GCC Patent Office, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Since then, he has moved to private industry, working as a Patent Specialist in SABIC's R&D division since 2001. In 2010, he was appointed as Technology Intelligence Coordinator at SABIC . Mr. Al-Hajeri has been a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) since 2001.

Chinese Patent Data and Its Processing

Abstract

The purpose of the speech is to make a clarified instruction on the source, copyright, publication and processing of Chinese patent data. The speech is structured into 3 parts. In the very beginning of the speech, the latest efforts made by the Chinese government on protecting intellectual property will be summed up. The next 2 parts make an illustration in detail about Chinese patent data. The speaker will start from communicating on the system of Chinese patenting, patent data source, publishing, updating, data contents and format, language and copyright. Then a demonstration of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Patent Database built and updated by Intellectual Property Publishing House (IPPH) will be presented as an example to show how patent data is processed in China.

Chuan Shen
Department of Intellectual Property Publishing House (China)

Biography

Chuan Shen joined Intellectual Property Publishing House (IPPH) after obtaining her master's degree in the University of Sydney, and working as an researcher in Machine Translation department for more than one year. Then in January 2007, she began working in the department of patent information services. She is now the director of patent information services department.


The role of the Patent Offices Committee

Abstract

The current model for the operation of the Patent Offices Committee (POC) has proved difficult to implement for some years. This short talk will present the views of the current chair, and invite the membership of PIUG to comment upon what it expects from the POC, both during the course of the year and in its report to the PIUG Annual meeting.

Stephen Adams
Magister Ltd.

Biography

See biography for Stephen Adams above.

Best Practice and Optimization Techniques in Assignee Based Search

Abstract

An assignee based search is an initial and crucial part in patent portfolio mapping of a particular assignee. Hence it is important to cover all the patents owned by that particular assignee. The assignee based search can be run on any commercial or freely database. Each of these databases has their own limitation and we would lose out a significant number of important patents if one depends on a single database.

To find the optimized technique of extracting out the patents owned by a particular assignee, we have devised the following approach.

  1. Find the subsidiaries of the assignee by using commercial databases like Lexis Nexis, Delphion, Standard and Poor's, Hoovers etc. as well as freely available resources like linkedin Wikipedia and assignee's website
  2. Make a search query by combining the obtained subsidiaries
  3. Run the search in Micropatent, Thomson Innovation, USPTO assignment database for Assignee/Applicant, Assignee/Applicant (non std) and Agent/Correspondent.
  4. Combine the results obtained from the above search

Though the above steps looks simple but a number of factors have to be kept in mind before running the search.

We also built up a case study to confirm that the above step works perfectly.

In this presentation we will discuss these cases in details and share extensive search experience.

Rajiv Gidla and Nisha Nambiar
Dolcera

Biographies

Rajiv Gidla is the Product Manager of software team at Dolcera. He has a Master's degree in Management from the top most management university in India i.e., Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad). He also has his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras). He had improved the functional speed of an image processing software (GIMP) by using the capability of external instruction set architecture during his graduation. He had led a number of teams during his period of under-graduation and graduation study. He played a vital role in the release of the first software product of Dolcera. His managerial skills proved vital for the growth of organization and welfare of the employees in a wide variety of ways. His areas of interest include natural language processing, software prototyping, software product life cycle management.

Nisha Nambiar is a seasoned Patent Analyst, mentoring a vibrant search team at Dolcera. She has a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. She has previously worked at Cerner Healthcare Corporation on the development of hospital information systems, and as a Research Intern at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC). Her research interests include design and implementation of innovative medical devices and systems, and has a publication in the biosensors domain, on micro pH sensors in the Journal of Bionanoscience. At Dolcera, she has excelled and brought in turn-key solutions in search methodologies, analysis and representation of disparate sources of data such as clinical trials, regulatory information, patents etc. in the medical and electronics domain.


What's So Special about Invalidity Searching?

Abstract

A patent invalidity search may be initiated when an enforceable patent is seen as a bar to desired business practices. The business may want to "invalidate" another's patent by finding prior art, preferably a single patent document or printed publication that pre-dates the target patent, that was not already considered by the patent examiner, and that would convince others that the patent application would not have been approved by the patent authority had it known about this prior art during the examination. Alternatively, the business may want to "validate" its own patent and confirm that no such invalidating prior art can be found. The same search process is used in either case; only the desired outcome is different. In either case, the searcher is expected to take substantial steps to find the "magic" bullet." The challenge is great and the "reward" may be significant. This presentation will discuss the invalidity search process with the perspective on what differentiates it from other patent and technology searches.

Thomas E. Wolff
Wolff Information Consulting LLC

Biography

Thomas E. Wolff, Ph. D, formed Wolff Information Consulting LLC in 2006 to provide technical and patent information services on a contract basis. Tom began is career at Amoco Chemical Company carrying out industrial organic chemistry and catalytic and polymerization development. Tom then moved to the Information Research and Analysis team in 1990 where he continued through the merger with BP and spin-off of the petrochemical and polymer company, Innovene, until its sale to Ineos. He has a BS in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ph. D. from Stanford University in bioinorganic chemistry. Tom has two US patents and is registered patent agent. For more information, see www.wolffinfo.com.


The Bibliometric's of Non-Patent Literature

Abstract

Searching "Non Patent Literature," (NPL) ,can be a daunting task. Where does one begin? Which databases should you consult and most important, when can you rest assured that you've done a reasonably comprehensive search? The process of a "due diligent" search implies that an "adequate" amount of information be considered. The success of a NPL search has a direct relationship with the amount and type of documents searched. The more records searched, the more reliable the search result. This paper presents a bibliometric outline of the major commercial bibliographic databases measured by database size, i.e., number of records, and key document types indexed.

Ron Rodrigues
Dialog

Biography

Ron Rodrigues, a California native, has a Master of Library Science from the University of California, Berkeley, 1976. He worked for Dialog from 1990-1998 as an Engineering and Defense File Specialist and rejoined the organization in 2005 as a Senior Content Specialist for Engineering/Physical Science and Defense. He has an additional 22 years experience in online research for organizations like HP, Agilent Technologies, Stanford University and the Naval Postgraduate School.


IP in business Strategy: Evolution of the information specialist

Abstract

Business strategy has traditionally been driven by the marketing teams. But this is changing, Of late IP has begun to play an important role in shaping such strategy for organizations. The IP manager/specialist has evolved over a period of time to encompass strategy. We are now working as an interface between the commercial & technology teams . The topic of the talk would be focusing on how this evolution has help define a new critical role, that craves a parallel career path for information specialists.

Narayan Subramanian
GE Energy Storage

Biography

Narayan graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from University of Mumbai in 1996. After working in sales and marketing for a couple of years he took a foray into graduate school. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in thermal and fluid sciences in 2003. Immediately after his Ph.D. he worked with Emerson doing computational analysis for their motors division. He joined the GE Energy team in 2005 working on turbine components.

Narayan moved into an IP analyst role in early 2007 and worked in different roles and functions within the Patent Analytics team before moving on to the current role as an IP manager for GE Energy storage. In addition to legal, IP and technology training, he is a certified lean six sigma Black belt. Narayan is a big supporter of using TRIZ-based approaches for idea generation. He relies on use of tools and process to streamline and reduce non-value-added work.


Finding Common Ground: Negotiating the Obstacles in Devising a Patent Searcher Certification Exam.

Abstract

Searching and understanding patent publications in an effective manner requires substantive knowledge and a variety of skills. It is no surprise then that an examination designed to test the abilities of a patent searcher needs to be of a high standard. This past year, a group of volunteers from the PDG, CEPIUG and PIUG have been working together to devise a set of sample examinations. As one of these volunteers, I have gained valuable insight concerning various issues that will need to be addressed in order to establish a viable, pertinent and widely supported certification scheme. A summary of the obstacles encountered and the possible steps forward will be presented.

Susanne Hantos
Davies Collison Cave

Biography

Susanne is the manager of the Patent Intelligence Services division of Davies Collison Cave, an Australian intellectual property law firm. Susanne is a trained chemist, a librarian and a registered Australian and New Zealand patent attorney and a Canadian patent agent who specializes in searching and analyzing patent publications in order to advise on patentability, patent infringement, freedom to operate and patent validity issues related to chemical technology. Susanne is also the chair of the PIUG Certification Working Group.


A Status Update on the Development of Certification of Patent Information Professionals

Abstract

In 2009 a framework for the certification of patent information professionals was laid done in a common document of the Patent Documentation Group (PDG) and the Confederacy of European Patent Information User Groups (CEPIUG). Since then these groups started working with joint efforts and significant progress has been made for instance in the development and evaluation of mock examination papers. Over 30 volunteers are currently contributing, including some PIUG members. This presentation will describe what has happened so far, and give an update of the actual status.

Aalt van de Kuilen
Abbott Healthcare Products B.V.

Biography

Aalt joined Solvay in 1980 as a chemist when the company was known as Philips Duphar, part of the Philips Corporation. In 1989, he was given the opportunity by Solvay to work part-time (1.5 days a week) as Chemistry teacher and was awarded a teaching degree by completing a two-year course. He moved into the Patent Department inside Solvay Pharmaceuticals in 1993 and received training as a Patent Information Specialist.

During this period Aalt became a member of WON (Dutch Patent Information User Group) and soon afterwards a Board Member of WON. He is a member of SACEPO (Standing Advisory Committee of the European Patent Office) and represents Solvay Pharmaceuticals in the Pharma Documentation Ring (PDR). Aalt is also teacher at the GO-Institute for the training course for Patent Information Specialists (PIS). He was elected President of the CEPIUG (Confederation of the EU-user groups) in March 2008.

From September 2002 onwards, when the Intellectual Property and Scientific Information Business Sectors at Solvay Pharmaceuticals were combined, he became responsible for all Patent and Chemical Information. After Solvay Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Abbott in early 2010, the Patent Information teams were combined into one global team. Aalt has been heading the team since January 2011.


Indexing Patent Literature Using "Semiotic Fingerprints"

Abstract

Despite the ambiguity that may exist within the language used in a patent or other technical document, there is invariably a semiotic fingerprint based on terminology or nomenclature used within a specific field of knowledge. Unlike keywords or indexing methods, these terms and names are used by domain experts to express relevant concepts, often with a high degree of precision. In addition, these terms are often maintained by independent standards bodies or commissions according to established rules. In this presentation, we will focus on how semiotic fingerprints that are discoverable with a large collection of patents (the Fairview Alexandria Green Technology collection) can be used to identify and visualize all patents relating to Bacteria and Archaea (> 3000 named species) with the corresponding technology classes based on IPC (>180) and ECLA classifications (>200).

George M. Garrity*, Charles Parker and Catherine Lyons
NamesforLife, LLC

Biographies

George Garrity is a Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University and a co-founder of NamesforLife, LLC. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Industrial Microbiology, and editor in chief of Standards in Genomic Sciences. Previously, he served as editor-in-chief of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology (1996-2006). From 1981-1996, George held a number of positions of increasing responsibility in the natural products screening program at Merck & Co. His research interests include print and electronic publishing, semantic technologies, classification and visualization of extremely large data sets, and biotechnology.

Charles Parker is a Sun Certified Enterprise Architect with more than ten years of experience in both the public and private sectors. His work has covered a wide range of topics including Microbiology, Genomics, Geospatial Imaging, and Precision Agriculture, and has been featured in NASA Spinoff Magazine and a number of scientific and technical publications. He has been the senior software developer with NamesforLife since September 2008.

Catherine Lyons received a BA in Theology from Oxford University in 1987. She has subsequently worked in the fields of lexicography and reference publishing; scientific publishing with special emphasis on microbiology, information architecture for markup-language applications (e.g. XML), and online publishing; and DOI applications. She and George collaborated on the development of the publishing DTDs for Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology and the Taxonomic Outline of the Prokaryotes. She is also the author of the NamesforLife schema. She currently serves on the board of directors of the International DOI Foundation.


Contextual Classification: Patent References in Industry Sources

Abstract

Most industries have some type of formalized knowledge base to assist with bringing products to market and other activities vital to that industry. Technology industries, for example, have Standards Bodies to assist with the development of products such as wireless devices. Another example is Orange Book, produced by the FDA that documents all approved drugs in the U.S. Sources such as these often refer to patents related to the items listed in them, and these references represent valuable data if you understand how to make use of them. This presentation will explain how these patent references can be integrated with your business strategy to fine tune it for long term success.

Doug Miller
Innography

Biography

Doug Miller brings a wealth of experience and understanding of software markets to Innography, having held executive positions at 10 technology startups over the past 25 years, including BuildForge (IBM), Authoria, Hire.com, Dazel (HP), Powersoft (Sybase), Candle and Computer Corporation of America. Responsible for strategic marketing and channel development, Doug is focused on driving new markets and product enhancements to position Innography as a global leader in intellectual property services. Doug's other interests are jump blues, photography and golfing.


Network Patent Analysis to Characterise the Quality of Inventions: A Case Study of Hybrid Car Patents

Abstract

Patent information specialists are continually trying to improve the way that patent data is mined and analysed in order to obtain commercially useful information. Network Patent Analysis (NPA) is a new method for characterising the results of patent searches by forming a network of patents, where the patents are linked by their citations to each other. The graphical representation of these networks can show the influential patents within a cluster of patents that relate to similar technology. The strength of the relationships between patents and between their respective assignees can be calculated and shown together with the directional flow of the relationship. NPA has the potential to significantly accelerate the innovation process by effectively and efficiently extracting information from existing prior art and utilising the connections already determined by examiners and technical experts in the field. By drawing on the collective opinion, NPA provides a robust tool with applications in patent portfolio review, investment analysis, patent litigation and in mapping technology trends.

George Mokdsi
Griffith Hack

Biography

George Mokdsi began a career in patent searching in 2000 after graduating with a PhD in organic chemistry. He is experienced in searching many commercial and publicly available patent databases. He conducts searches in all technology fields and specialises in chemical structure and biosequence searching.

George has been involved in researching the effectiveness and limitations of various search systems and methodologies. George has been working with Griffith Hack, a leading Australian patent attorney firm since 2005 and currently manages the information services group.

George is looking to develop a career in the area of information analysis and in building platforms to manage and analyse information and inventions in a way that allows efficient global development.


CPC: EPO and USPTO’s Joint Cooperative Patent Classification System

Abstract

The EPO and USPTO are cooperating on a new, bilateral classification system, the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC). In October 2010, the USPTO and the EPO entered into an agreement to explore the possibility of jointly developing an IPC-based classification system in an effort to advance harmonization of the various classification systems used in the major IP offices throughout the world. The ultimate goal of CPC is to create a system that will be a large step toward CHC, the Common Hybrid Classification. The presentation will be presented jointly, by the EPO and USPTO, to demonstrate the unity of the two offices in this initiative.

Christopher Kim
USPTO

Pierre Held
EPO

Biographies

Christopher Kim is currently the CPC Program Coordinator at the USPTO, where he is responsible for the implementation of CPC within USPTO. Christopher has over 14 years of experience working on international projects, including Trilateral and IP5 harmonization projects. He was involved in the reform of the IPC at the outset from 1999 to 2005, as well as the Trilateral Classification Working Group, and the IP5 WG1 Working Group on Classification. His areas of expertise include patent information, documentation, standards, data exchange and classification.

Dr. Pierre Held started to work for the European Patent Office in 1997, as a patent examiner in Pure and Applied Organic Chemistry. In 2004 he joined EPO's Classification Directorate. He is currently EPO's Trilateral and IP5 Common Hybrid Classification (CHC) project manager. In this function he's been representing the EPO in meetings of the Trilateral and IP5 Working Groups on Classification as well as at WIPO's classification bodies (ALS, IPC/WG and IPC Committee of Experts). He is a member of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) Implementation Group.


Diff'rent Strokes - Improving Patent Information Report Quality and Value in View of Variations

Abstract

Knowing how to turn voluminous patent data to strategic information and knowledge is vital for better business decisions. However, minor differences in patent indexing, search terms, choice of classification codes, databases or overall search strategies can cause significant variations in search results and directly impact a search report's quality and value. Searcher predispositions can only exacerbate the problem. This presentation identifies the root causes of variations and the challenges involved in standardization or bench-marking. Furthermore, the presentation outlines strategies to maximize quality of reports by minimizing variations and provides a framework for better information management by an expert patent information analyst.

Yateen Pargaonkar
P&G Beauty Care

Biography

Yateen R. Pargaonkar works as a Competitive Intelligence Manager at Procter & Gamble Co., in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to joining P&G, he worked as an Associate Law Librarian at Morrison & Forester in San Diego, California and taught a course at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) on Patent Searching & Internet Research. Yateen has also served as a Scientific Advisor at two Intellectual Property law firms in the New York area. Yateen got trained as a Biomedical Scientist with a graduate degree from University of Miami, Miami, FL and with three years of work experience at Columbia University, New York City, NY. Yateen is a registered U.S. Patent Agent and an active member of PIUG.


Patent Space Exploration: an application of Markush structure enumeration and search

Abstract

In pharmaceutical research and development identifying patentable chemistry space is of central importance. Patent protection is usually filed early in a program's life cycle, usually upon identification of potential drug activity and before the safety and efficacy profile is established. It is usual that any patent application will include not only one specific composition of matter, but a series of related compounds or even several patents of related chemical series leading to a crowded patent space. ChemAxon and Thomson Reuters have recently concluded a partnership to enable storage and search and advanced visualization of Thomson Reuters content, involving the Merged Markush Service (MMS) database, in relation to the Derwent World Patent Index (DWPI) and Derwent Chemistry Resource (DCR). An analysis of ChemAxon's Markush selective and random enumeration and search capabilities is presented. The analysis, illustrated by reference to specific examples, provides detailed comments under the broad headings of database content, system, reduction of Markush structures, hit alignment and coloring. The current technology supports not only chemists but patent professionals to understand and explore patent space and ultimately devise a way to avoid covered regions of chemical space. Moreover, this is the first time when Markush records of an extensive patent Markush database are available for in-house analysis by cheminformatics tools.

Timea Polgar
ChemAxon Ltd.

Biography

Timea Polgar is a Senior Application Scientist at ChemAxon Ltd. in Budapest, Hungary. She earned her MSc in molecular biology and chemistry from University of Szeged, Hungary. She defended her PhD thesis at Budapest University of Technology and Economics on Virtual screening in early phase drug design. She had been working as a computational chemist for seven years in the pharmaceutical industry for Gedeon Richter and Servier.


Tools for Optimizing the Value from Patent Information by Relevant Indexing and Proper Management of Patent Information, Especially Those for Simplifying Analysis and Visualization of Gene Sequences

Abstract

Companies actively track patent information to support their R&D and legal functions. In this process, they end up collecting significant volume of patent information. However, if this information is not properly indexed and classified, then the reuse of this information becomes difficult and defeats the purpose of collection.

To make this information more relevant and useful to end users (legal and R&D departments), it is important that the information be indexed in a simplified (vs. IPC/US/ECLA classification) and user-friendly format.

Equally important is the means by which users are allowed access to this information. It should facilitate easy retrieval and analysis of relevant patent information.

The most commonly used offline solutions for storing and organizing patent information (excel databases, word reports, etc) have to deal with the issue of version control. The patent information is used my multiple users, and often each user ends up maintaining his/her version of the report. Also, often users annotate these reports with their own insights. The offline nature of the reports limits the extent to which these valuable insights get shared within the organization.

Several solutions have been developed in the recent past that try to address these issues. These include off the shelf solutions like iEPROS and Patent Archive, and customized IP dashboards like those from Evalueserve and Dolecra.

Further, with the ever increasing patenting activity in the domain of molecular diagnosis it is a challenge to determine the mapping of sequences from a large number of search results on to the gene under study. It is an area of key interest for R&D and legal functions to be able to accurately visualize this information to understand regions of research focus and determine freedom to operate.

There are online tools, databases, etc., that show the mapping of a single sequence to the gene. However, trying to map multiple relevant sequences concurrently to the gene still remains an unmet need. It is just like trying to draw out a map of the occupants of each house/street of a densely populated urban city. Several tools have tried to address this issue, including online databases, IT tools, etc.

My presentation will focus on analyzing the features offered by these tools and how end users benefit from them, specially focusing on comparing the various tools available or being developed for gene mapping visualization and pictorial representation of the specific claimed region in any gene/genome of interest to help provide in-depth annotation of the results of patent analysis.

Ashish Nawani
Evalueserve

Biography

Ashish Nawani is an Engagement Manager with Evalueserve. She is also a registered Indian Patent Agent. She set up the Healthcare practice within the IP group of Evalueserve and was leading it till 2006, when she relocated to the US to support in a more client interfacing roles. She holds and Masters degree in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology from IIT Delhi.


New Methods for In-depth Classification Code Analysis

Abstract

In-depth classification code analysis is difficult using current technology. Assembling data sets can be both cumbersome and expensive. Now, a new approach to the problem is possible. In June of 2010, the USPTO and Google entered into an agreement to make raw USPTO data available, free of charge, to the public. Once the data are loaded into a relational database, in-depth analyses may be readily performed. In this talk, new methods for using, analyzing, and visualizing classification code data - facilitated by relational database management systems - will be presented.

David M. Gange
Chemistry Patent Search

Biography

For over twenty years David has worked in the areas of chemical information management, chemistry searching, and patent searching. He is the author of more than thirty patents and publications, and in 2007 was awarded U.S. Patent 7,251,643 for a new method of chemical database searching. His clients include law firms, chemical companies, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech companies. David's searching specialties include pharmaceuticals, small molecules, and medical devices. Past projects include novelty searching, competitive intelligence, M & A due diligence, infringement analysis, and state-of-the-art surveys.

David received his Bachelor of Science with Honors in Chemistry from Tulane University. After graduating from Tulane, he went on to receive a Ph.D. in organic synthesis from The Ohio State University and completed postdoctoral studies at Columbia University.

David is a Registered Patent Agent, and a member of American Chemical Society, Association of Independent Information Professionals, Patent Information Users Group, Chemical Consultants Network and National Association of Patent Practitioners.


Indexing Gene Sequences in Indian Patents

Abstract

Indian Patent Information is currently available by utilizing both the INPADOC plugins to various search databases and a plurality of free, on-line resources. Both these sources suffer from a couple of drawbacks including missing data, bibliographic presentation of information, erroneous data and a limited period being represented (for example, only valid patents are a part of some of these resources). PatNMarks is the first Indian firm to provide Intellectual Property information for the Indian landscape by using proprietary, in-house data-bases, which have been manually entered and verified over several software cycles. Our value-added services, Vaniham, Noutpam and Abha, cover the entire range of Intellectual Property searches including Patents, Trademarks and Designs for the Indian landscape. In this paper we present some perspectives on the organization of Indian Patent literature, including the challenges we faced with the classification, paper-copies, transformation of arcane media to up-to date and compatible databases, which provide the basis for our due-diligence services.

Specifically, from 2008 onwards, we have worked towards building our gene sequence and chemical sequencing capabilities and would like to share the same with the PIUG community.

Anu Vaidyanathan
PatNMarks

Biography

Dr. Anu Vaidyanathan is the founder of PatNMarks, the first Indian company to offer Value Added Services in the area of Intellectual Property. Anu also spent time as Visiting Faculty at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Ropar and was recently invited to be a member of the permanent faculty roster. Anu graduated with a B.S in Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 2001. After getting a Masters in Computer Engineering from North Carolina in 2002 and a brief stint at IBM Austin, Anu finished her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Canterbury at Christchurch, graduating in a record time of 26 months. She is a qualified patent professional in India and leads a team of Engineers and Scientists at PatNMarks, providing services in all aspects of IP-Law for a niche clientele spanning the globe.


Panel Discussion: Crowdsourcing Patent Research: A Practical Use of Patent Information in Business

Abstract

The connectivity of the Internet has allowed for a new way of patent search to emerge that enables a broader scope of research and enhances patent quality. This way of search is known as crowdsourcing: "taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an 'open call' to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions."

Crowdsourcing of prior art searches can be applied to help verify the novelty of patent applications, and to help corporations minimize the impact of litigation on their business through a strategic use of reexaminations and early detection of potentially litigious patents. Corporations can also scrub and increase the quality of their patent portfolios to minimize the risk of being litigated against.

Communities and consumers all over the world can benefit from crowdsourcing prior art searches. By strengthening overall patent quality, companies can more freely innovate and create exciting new technologies.

Biographies

Ray Felts, moderator
Article One Partners

Ray Felts is responsible for Sales & Marketing and Community Development. Ray previously was Vice President of Business Development for NineSigma, focused on building a global open innovation community and developing products and services to deliver customer satisfaction. Ray's experience with other venture-backed startups includes Senior Vice President of Business Development and Services at PowerSteering Software (SaaS provider of Portfolio Management tools to R&D leaders of Global Fortune 500 clients) and Vice President of Professional Services at Surebridge (an Application Management and Hosting provider, acquired by NaviSite).

Ray has over 15 years experience in Science & Technology including product development responsibilities at Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and EMC. Ray has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California, and an MBA from Boston College.

Keith Bergelt
Open Innovation Network

Keith Bergelt is the CEO of Open Invention Network (OIN), the collaborative enterprise that enables innovation in open source and an increasingly vibrant ecosystem around Linux. OIN enables and defends Linux through its royalty free patent licensing program and efforts such as Linux Defenders (www.linuxdefenders.org).

Prior to joining OIN, Mr. Bergelt served as CEO of two hedge funds formed to unlock the considerable asset value of intellectual property in middle market companies. He raised over $300 million at these firms while financing IP-centric portfolio companies of leading financial sponsors.

Previously, Mr. Bergelt served as a senior advisor to the technology investment division at TPG. He also headed business development, IP and licensing for Cambridge Display Technology. Additionally, he established and served as GM of the Strategic Intellectual Asset Management business unit and director of Technology Strategy at Motorola. He is a frequent speaker on corporate strategy, finance, and IP management.

Ria Farrell Schalnat
Frost Brown Todd LLC

Ria Farrell Schalnat is a patent/software licensing attorney with a focus in billing, CRM, speech, and Open Source licensing. She has a B.S. in Computer Science and has also taught law school courses in Open Source Licensing, Computer & Cyberspace Law and Patent Prosecution History Analysis. She serves on several boards including the Speech Technology Consortium, CincyIP - an educational bar association relating to intellectual property, and the University of Dayton's Program in Law in Technology. Ms. Schalnat enjoys singing jazz and playing chess (1st Place 2009 Cardinal Open for U1000).

Andrea Casillas
Peer to Patent Project, Center for Patent Innovations at New York Law School

Andrea Casillas is a 2010 graduate from New York Law School. Prior to entering law school, Andrea worked as a laboratory researcher in embryology and microbiology at Arizona State University where she holds a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry. As a legal student, Andrea worked as a student associate to Peer To Patent and served as Outreach Manager. In 2010, Andrea was named Director of Peer To Patent and Assistant Director for the Center for Patent Innovations. As Director, she has presented at Innovate / Activate, Pace Law School and participated at the Peer Review Prior Art Roundtable at WIPO headquarters in Geneva. Additionally, she taught the Peer To Patent Project Based Learning Course and assisted teaching the Peer To Policy and Innovate / Active Tech Law Labs.


Search The Way You Think

Abstract

The search for patent and non-patent references is daunting as the amount and complexity of digital information explodes, the number of subject matter experts declines, the subject matter becomes more granular, and technologies converge - organic electronics, surgical robots, smoke detecting cellphones.

Using Coronado Group's experience building the Pre-Grant Publication USPC/IPC automated classification and art unit routing software for USPTO, its intelligent conceptual search tool Coronado IP, and case studies on its work with a major research university the talk will address the impact of:

  • Patent Argot, the unique language of patents, that can subvert traditional indexing and classification strategies.
  • "Vocabulary obfuscation", the patent prosecutor's goal to couch inventions in the broadest possible language and "hide" the invention in plain sight by taking advantage and how state of the art indexing and classification approaches can beat them at this game.
  • Classification and indexing that is integrated with visualization tools so patent professionals can craft their own search strategies tailored to their own search goals.
  • Indexing and classification technologies that provide patent researchers with a better way to discover, analyze, and get an "innovation" picture.

Arleen Malley Zank
Coronado Group, Ltd.

Biography

Arleen Zank is Co-Founder and President of Coronado Group, Ltd., a specialized systems integration and technology advisory firm focused on new and emerging technology, intellectual property, and advanced informatics. Ms. Zank has extensive experience in intellectual property and patent analytics, IP monetization strategies, and supporting a range of clients seeking advanced information search and analysis in the areas of prior art searching, substantial new questions (SNQ) of patentability to support patent reexaminations, validity and infringement analysis, citation analytics and patent landscape development, and patent prosecution support. Ms. Zank has developed a range of informatics tools and competitive and market intelligence products to help Coronado Group's clients optimize their intellectual property, monitor scientific and technical advances, and track the market boundaries of patented and emerging technology across the patent spectrum. Coronado Group develops advanced intellectual property analytical and search systems including Pre-Grant Publication patent classification system that support USPTO and its contractors, and Cognition IP, a conceptual search and analytics tool that finds and ranks patents based on their conceptual and semantic content. Ms. Zank is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, DC.


Machine Translation and Multilingual Search for the Patent Domain: European Research Efforts and Perspectives

Abstract

The language problem is a particularly acute one in Europe, thanks to its 23 official languages. For the patent domain, standardization and aggregation efforts exist, embodied principally by the EPO and WIPO, but ultimately we still need to search and understand different languages. As a consequence, the IRF, in cooperation with many academic and industrial partners, and with the financial support of the European Commission, has been working on multilingual information retrieval, machine translation, and the evaluation of the two for the professional patent users.

This talk will present the latest developments in the field of machine translation and multilingual retrieval for patents, focusing on one of the projects currently underway under the Information and Communication Technologies---Policy Support Programme of the EU: Patent Language Translations Online, or PLuTO.

Just entering its second year of development, PLuTO (http://pluto-patenttranslation.com) will have already demonstrated a running prototype in early May 2011. It is the first project dedicated specifically to the translation and indexing of patent language, and relies on the experience of 5 dedicated partners, including a patent information user group. The technology represents the intertwining of machine translation, translation memories, and cross-lingual retrieval engine, capable of continuously improving itself through professional use. The multilingual index is using both query translation and corpus translation, function of the available data, and the results are translated on-the-fly for the user.

In addition to the technology development, a significant part of the PLuTO effort is the continuous evaluation from patent information users. At the end of the talk I will give a short overview of the current state-of-the-art in patent retrieval evaluation.

Mihai Lupu
Post-doctoral Research Fellow
Information Retrieval Facility

Aalt van de Kuilen
Abbott Healthcare Products B.V.

Biography

Mihai Lupu obtained his PhD in Peer-to-Peer Information Retrieval from the Singapore-MIT Alliance at the National University of Singapore in 2008. Since then he has been a post-doctoral research fellow at the Information Retrieval Facility, where his research focus lies in multi-lingual IR, evaluation of IR for both multi-lingual and domain specific IR as well as the use of explicit and latent semantic analysis for information retrieval. He has been the co-organizer of the Patent Information Retrieval series of Workshops and of the TREC Chemical IR Evaluation campaign.

See biography for Aalt van de Kuilen above.


Revisiting the IPC-SIC Concordance

Abstract

Canadian Intellectual Property Office had done pioneering work on International Patent Classification (IPC)-Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) concordance to enable the development of patent indicators at industry level. This was followed by Yale Technology Concordance, Silverman's IPC-US SIC Concordance, OECD Technology Concordance and many similar such attempts. These systems have been used mainly for economic and policy analysis by various scholars to assess the specific industries in which firms have technological strength; patenting activity through the industry life cycle ; industry-specific technological uncertainty ; industry-specific effects in university-industry technology transfer, knowledge flows across different industrial sectors, technology spillovers etc.

There is an increasing interest to use IPC-SIC concordance to monitor technological developments across particular industrial sectors. Some of the new products available for IP business intelligence seem to incorporate incorporate this concordance.

The objective of this presentation is to review the development of IPC-SIC concordance over a period of last 10-15 years and its various applications with a particular focus on patent searching, mining, mapping and analysis.

Raj Hirwani
CSIR-URDIP

Biography

Raj Hirwani received his post-graduate degree in Chemical Technology from Bombay University followed by MBA in Marketing Management and Ph.D in R&D Management from IIT,Mumbai. He is Fulbright Scholar and was recipient of prestigious Hubert Humphrey Fellowship in Technology Management.

He has more than 30 years of techno-commercial experience in research. He was head of Research Planning and Business Development division at National Chemical Laboratory and presently heads Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP) at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which is India's premier civilian research establishment. URDIP provides value added information services to a wide variety of clients in public and private sector.

He has been playing an important role in spreading awareness, providing education and promoting research and practice of Patinformatics within India. He was responsible for organizing India's First Conference on Patinformatics during December 2009.


Approximating Technology Anomalies via Patent Classification

Abstract

Patent offices around the world have struggled to keep up with the ever-new technologies that they have to examine and in which inventors and assignees have been complicit by devising ever-evolving new trends in products and processes. Patent offices have creating specialized indexing to track these changes and while this has helped identify similar inventions, such classification frameworks can only approximate technologies.

When tracking classification codes, what should be an ever-increasing but more or less straight upwards line of technological advances turns out to be more scattered than straight. This topic will look as some anomalies that classification codes show and also some possible reasons as to why these disturbances exist where the system may be headed.

Ron Kaminecki
Dialog

Biography

Ron has held various positions at major research companies and has spent more than thirty years at Dialog, always focusing on Intellectual Property.

His current responsibilities at Dialog LLC include working with various intellectual property groups to help develop new solutions for searching and analyzing patents, to collect information from these groups, and to disseminate this knowledge.

Ron has a BS in Chemistry; an MS in Computer Science and Information Systems; and a JD with a Certificate in Patent Law.

Ron has written over fifty articles, book chapters, presentations and papers on various aspects of online searching and information retrieval since 1974, including R&D Management, FreePint.com and the Journal of Chemical Information. He has a patent pending on an information retrieval system. He has worked with searchers in the Fortune 500 and in major law firms and patent offices around the world. He has also worked as an expert witness in patent cases and is also an inventor with an American and a PCT published patent application. He is a co-author of NISO Standard Z-39.58, "Common Command Language for Online Information Retrieval," which also became an International (ISO) Standard.

He is a registered US patent attorney and is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Illinois and of the Bar of the Northern District Court of Illinois, and has also been a US Patent Agent. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Lawyer's Association, Chicago Bar Association, Patent Information User's Group, Special Libraries Association, and is a thirty-seven year member of the American Chemical Society.

 

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