Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the PIUG 2018 Annual Conference to be held May 5-10, 2018 at the Westin Alexandria in Alexandria, Virginia. The theme for this 30th Annual Conference is:

"Celebrating 30 years of Patent Information: Past, Present & Future"

We are particularly interested in presentations from patent information users working in-house or as external providers, patent offices, IP firms, universities and others who are able to discuss one of the following topics, with a focus on the how the human skills involved in searching are still needed in the next generation of searching tools. We are interested in how changes since PIUG was founded 30 years ago have changed with a focus on the future, trends, predictions, or how searching may be affected by future technology:

• Search basics – fundamentals needed to get it right down the line, including:
• • Techniques and tips in a variety of circumstances and disciplines Lessons learned and real-life stories from the field
  • Best practices for training staff, keeping up to date and insuring quality of results
• Searcher communication and relationships – interviewing various clients and recapping results in a variety of settings:
• • Attorneys and Patent Agents (in-house and external)
  • Inventors
  • Management and workers at corporations
  • Consultants
  • Not-for-profit organization staff
  • Academics
  • Government workers, especially patent office staff
  • Non-governmental organization (NGO) clients
  • Law firm staff, including single practitioner and large entities
  • Patent assertion entity (PAE) staff
  • Worldwide patent/research staff
  • Workers in research, at firms or offices in emerging nations
• Searching and analysis in support of different business activities and decision making – focusing on why the search has been requested:
• • Patenting – how a search fits into the strategy, timing, countries, staffing and focus
  • Freedom to operate (FTO) – determining how a search relates to the overall strategy, identification of competition, developing proper profiles for searching
  • Invalidation – using searches as a tool in light of most recent court decisions and changes to the law
  • Opposition – who should oppose and how
  • Infringement – identification of who is practicing the invention without permission
  • Research and Development – how searchers keep researchers informed
  • Mergers and Acquisitions – identification of targets and analysis of background information
  • Due diligence – keeping up to date with changes to the law
  • Ownership investigation – what to do when the obvious suspects do not own the IP
  • Licensing – identification and qualification of target patents, partners and also candidates to be approached, portfolio evaluation and strategy
  • Litigation – protecting intellectual property
  • Technology transfer – finding and introducing technology to those who can use it
  • Competitive analysis – identification of who is out there and what they are doing
  • Monetization – valuation of patents
• Intelligent presentation of search results – what works best for your particular client?
• • Communication – how best to present complex issues or lengthy results
  • Mobile technology – More data on smaller screens
  • Adding value – whether to add opinions and how to do so, using mining tools or automated systems
  • Analysis – best practices or unique approaches to identifying trends
  • Prioritization – sorting the order of output
  • Narrowing – focusing on the important first, or the latest first?
  • Optimization – making the process faster or more efficient
  • Visualization – making the point of patent analytics without overwhelming the audience
  • Efficiency – measures that an agile IP department uses to serve as "best in class
  • New media – how blogs, Twitter, or future platforms affect searching, communication and work flow
  • Automated searching v. human interaction
• Formats include both panel discussions and solicited and submitted papers, including:
• • Case studies
  • Instructive/critical works
  • Scholarly works
  • Literature reviews
  • Statistical studies
  • Updates from patent authorities

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

  In addition, if you are a patent attorney, patent agent, or patent examiner and you are interested in (1) analysis of patent information or (2) you are interested in the present and future patent search systems in support of drafting, prosecution, examination, opposition or litigation matters, we invite you to consider participating in a patent counsel panel to address these topics. Please email ron @ kaminecki dot com and indicate your topic of preference.

  We are also looking for the viewpoint from academia and are seeking individuals from local law schools to answer questions from our membership regarding information needs, trends or programs aimed at patent prosecution, entrepreneurship, searching, analysis or related areas.

  Please send your presentation title, abstract, proposed speaker name, company name, brief biography and contact information or indication to be a panelist with bio and contact information to ron @ kaminecki dot com on or before Friday, December 15, 2017 for full consideration. Please clearly identify this email as a response to the Call for Papers.

  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).

  Presentations will need to be provided to the Program Committee prior to the Annual Conference for review (March 31, 2018) and feedback before being loaded into the presentation system.

  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 Ron Kaminecki (ron @ kaminecki dot com) or Stephen Adams (stephen.adams @ magister dot co dot uk) 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.

  Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to seeing you at the PIUG 2018 Annual Conference!

  Stephen Adams and Ron Kaminecki, Co-Chairs, Program Committee

  Martha Yates and Ken Koubek, Co-Chairs, Planning Committee