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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


PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

    The Program Committee is pleased to announce confirmed presentations and speakers for the PIUG 2026 Joint Annual & Biotech Conference. 

    The program starts early with a Welcome Exhibitor Reception on Tuesday morning just after breakfast and ends with vendor workshops on Thursday afternoon.

    For hotel arrangement,  PIUG recommends staying at the 

    SONESTA PHILADELPHIA RITTENHOUSE SQUARE, 1800 Market Street just two blocks from the conference center.

    Receive the PIUG negotiated rate via PIUG Conference Reservation web page 


    TUESDAY PROGRAM

    MAY 19, 2026

    7:00  Exhibitor Set Up
    8:00  Breakfast and Open Exhibits
    9:00  Exhibitor Welcome Reception
    10:00   Welcome Remarks
     Scott Hertzog, PIUG Chair
    10:15  Keynote Address - From Data to Action: Shaping the Future of IP Analytics

     Ekrem Ayhan Çakay - WIPO IP Analytics Section,

     World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland

    11:00  Networking and Exhibits Break
    11:15  Patent Search Jumpstart: Using automated search techniques  for faster decisions 
     Brad Buehler - Chief Operating Officer, Ensemble IP
    11:45  Controlling Patent Claim Generation with Reinforcement Learning with LLMs
     Jieh-Sheng Jason Lee - Assistant Professor of Law at the NYCU School of Law in Taiwan 
    12:15  Aptean GenomeQuest Silver Sponsor Product Review 
    12:20  Patsnap Silver Sponsor Product Review 
    12:25   Networking Lunch 
    1:15  WIPO Patent Quest - "A Serious Game"
     Ekrem Ayhan Çakay - WIPO & Magnus Hakvag - CEO of House of Knowledge 
    3:15  Networking and Exhibits Break
    3:30  Fantastic Platform Patents and Where to Find Them - Essential for Freedom to Operate
     Daniela Bar El & Yonit Ronen - CoFounders of D&Y IP
    4:00  Strategic Two-Pronged Approach to (FTO) for Complex Formulations
     Harita S Achanta - Director, Marketing & HR - SciTech Patent Art Services Pvt. Ltd.
    4:30  Freedom to Operate Studies Assisted by Large Language Models
     Zhifu Shu - Distinguished Research Associate, ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company
    6:00   Networking Dinners

    WEDNESDAY  PROGRAM

    MAY 20, 2026

    8:00 Breakfast and Open Exhibits
    9:00
    Human vs Machine- comparative analysis of AI-driven & traditional prior art methods
    Christine Marie Geluk - Principal and Founder, Librarian At Your Service LLC
    9:30

    AI, Hybrid Intelligence, and the Future of Patent Information

    Ahmet Bugra Baser -Vice President Turkish PIUG (TURPIUG)

    10:00 Aptean GenomeQuest Plenary 
    10:15 PatSnap Plenary
    10:30 Networking and Exhibits Break
    11:00

    Advancements in China's AI-related search products (Working Title)

    Fu Yidong - Director of Overseas Department, International Patent Publishing House 

    11:30

    Patent analytics integrated with authoritative scientific data & AI

    Stephen K Boyer

    12:00 Stu Kaback Award - Madhav Kulkarni - Dow
    12:10 PIUG Service Awards
    12:15 Networking Lunch 
    1:00
    Who's Actually in Charge? The Professional Searcher's Role in an AI-Assisted World
    Stephanie Curcio, Martha Yates, Jonathan Skovholt
    1:45
    The Nine Billion Names for Finding Prior Art
    Ron Kaminecki - Patent Attorney, Kaminecki IP LLC
    2:15 Networking and Exhibits Break
      WORKSHOPS
    2:45

    Combining classical and agentic AI search methods for maximizing speed and recall

    PatSnap Silver Sponsor Workshop
    4:00

    Addressing the Toughest Sequence Patent Search Challenges with GenomeQuest

    Aptean GenomeQuest Silver Sponsor Workshop

    5:00 Exhibitor Happy Hour Reception @ CONVENE
    6:00 Networking Dinners


    THURSDAY PROGRAM

    MAY 21, 2026

    8:00 Breakfast and Open Exhibits
     8:30

    IP Operations – Working Smarter With AI

    Pallav Patel - Founding Partner, IP Simplified Technologies

    9:00

    Baseline IP Knowledge for Clients

    Matthew Holley -President, Pharmaceutical Officers Academy

    9:30 Leveraging patent analytics to strengthen R&D initiatives
    Katie Brown
    10:00 Human IP Experts + Value-added databases = Human Intelligence
    Matt Eberle & John Willmore
    10:30 Networking and Exhibits Break
    11:00 AI Prioritization: Accelerating  FTO Cycles using Derwent Patent Monitor  
    Clarivate Workshop
    11:00

    How AI is Shifting the Role of the Patent Professional: From Searcher to Strategist 

    NLPatent Workshop

    12:00 Networking Lunch 

    1:00

    Derwent Sequence Search Workshop

    Clarivate Biotech Workshop

     1:00

    Building Integrated Reports from a Single Search Platform

    BizInt Workshop

    2:15 Minesoft Workshop TBD



    TUESDAY PROGRAM

    Conference Abstracts and Biographies

    Keynote Address - From Data to Action: Shaping the Future of IP Analytics

     Ekrem Ayhan Çakay - WIPO IP Analytics Section,

     World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland

    In a world increasingly shaped by data and AI, turning IP insights into strategic action has never been more vital. This talk explores how WIPO’s IP Analytics team supports this global shift – from developing high-impact resources such as WIPO Technology Trends and Patent Landscape Reports, to capacity-building initiatives like the Patent Quest serious game and tailored training for the growing network of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) worldwide.


    At the core of this transformation lies a new paradigm: hybrid intelligence, where human expertise and machine capabilities work together to transform data into meaningful insight. Drawing from real-world examples, the presentation will demonstrate how the combination of human analytical judgment and machine-enabled data processing can generate actionable knowledge and strengthen innovation ecosystems, particularly in developing countries.


    The talk will also highlight the importance of community building through WIPO’s new IP Analytics Community of Practice, designed to connect, upskill and empower IP analysts from IP offices around the world. By enabling collaboration and knowledge sharing, the community reinforces the role of human expertise within an increasingly data-driven and AI-assisted analytical environment.

    Finally, as the IP analytics landscape evolves, so too does the role of the analyst. This talk therefore poses a timely question: how do we ensure that AI becomes a trusted analytical partner – rather than a black box – in the IP analytics journey?


    BIOGRAPHY

    Ekrem Ayhan Çakay, QPIP, is an IP Analyst at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, where he works on patent analytics, technology trend analysis, and innovation intelligence. His work focuses on transforming large-scale patent data into strategic insights for policymakers, researchers, and innovation ecosystems. Çakay has contributed to several WIPO studies and reports analyzing emerging technologies and global patent trends. He is also Chair of the Turkish Patent Information User Group (TURPIUG), supporting collaboration and knowledge sharing within the patent information community.Founder/COOMolecular Assets , Collabra Inc.


    Patent Search Jumpstart: Using automated search techniques to make decisions faster
     Brad Buehler - Chief Operating Officer, Ensemble IP

    Automated patent search tools provide the promise of fast answers with little effort. As patent professionals, we know the answer is not always so simple. Automated search tools are effective for getting deeper into the search process more quickly, but success depends on knowing how to effectively use them. Through our own patent search experience, we’ve spent years learning how to best use these new search techniques.


    Our presentation will focus on how to effectively use automated search results to move your search to a decision point faster.

    -Using Quartet (https://quartet.pro), we’ll show you how to get the most from your automated search across patentability, validity, and clearance/FTO searches

    - We’ll show you tips and tricks for quickly assessing the relevancy of the results

    - You’ll learn how to effectively use the automated search results as a starting point for a comprehensive search


    BIOGRAPHY

    Brad Buehler is the Chief Operating Officer and a founding shareholder of Ensemble IP. Prior to starting

    Ensemble IP, he was Managing Director of the global Patent Search and Innovation Intelligence Unit at

    CPA Global. He started his Intellectual Property career with Landon IP in 1999, ultimately serving as the

    President of Landon IP until its acquisition by CPA Global in 2014. Throughout his 25+ years in the field

    of patent searching, he has witnessed and influenced the evolution of patent searching and the role of

    professional patent searchers. Brad is also a Registered Patent Agent.

    Controlling Patent Claim Generation with RL: An Early Exploration with LLMs
     Jieh-Sheng Jason Lee - Assistant Professor of Law at the NYCU School of Law in Taiwan 

    This presentation brings together a trilogy of early-stage research efforts exploring the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) to control patent claim drafting. The collective work reflects an initial and exploratory progression showcasing how RL-based techniques may shape patent claim generation.

    The first paper, "InstructPatentGPT: Training Patent Language Models to Follow Instructions with Human Feedback," establishes a foundation by conceptualizing patent prosecution as a system of reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). The status of "granted" and "pre-grant" are perceived as labeled human feedback implicitly. This work leverages such implicit feedback to train an LLM to generate claims with a higher probability of being granted. The experiments demonstrate the model's capability to learn from adjusting claim length and inclusion of limiting terms for narrowing claim scope. The implementation in this research utilizes modern techniques that enable execution on a single consumer-grade GPU.

    Building upon RLHF, the second paper, "Generating Patent Claims with Semantic Novelty," investigates whether RL can facilitate the generation of patent claims that exhibit a higher degree of "semantic novelty." The semantic novelty is regarded as inversely proportional to sentence similarity, which is measured by sentence embeddings. Semantic novelty serves as a computational metric to approximate the concept of novelty as understood in patent law. Also, this study seeks to generate dependent claims with a higher degree of semantic novelty relative to the independent claims, and vice versa.

    Concluding this series, "PatentGRPO: Group Relative Policy Optimization for Patent Text Generation," presents a novel approach to controlling patent claim generation by fine-tuning LLMs using GRPO. Originally introduced in DeepSeekMath, GRPO shows that outcome-based rewards can guide model behavior without relying on costly human annotations. In this study, the implemented rewards focus on claim length and the number of entities, providing measurable control over generated claims. While the work primarily emphasizes quantitative evaluation, it lays important groundwork for future qualitative analysis in the patent domain.

    Together, these three papers present a progressive, early-stage investigation into how RL and LLMs may support patent claim drafting. Although the findings remain preliminary, they underscore the potential for developing more effective, controllable, and innovative tools for patent professionals in the future.

    BIOGRAPHY

    Jason Lee (Jieh-Sheng) is an Associate Professor of Law at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) School of Law in Taiwan, where his AI research explores the applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) in the patent domain. A New York-licensed attorney and registered USPTO patent attorney, Professor Lee brings extensive practical expertise to academia, drawing from years of experience as in-house patent counsel. His multidisciplinary background is anchored by a Ph.D. and Master’s in Computer Science and Information Engineering from National Taiwan University, complemented by an LL.M. from George Washington University Law School and a Master’s in Law from National Chiao Tung University (now NYCU).


    WIPO Patent Quest: WIPO & House of Knowledge Serious Game

    Mr. Ekrem A. Çakay IP Analytics Section, WIPO

    Mr. Magnus Hakvåg CEO, House of Knowledge, Norway 

    Explore patent analytics in this interactive session featuring Patent Quest, a serious game developed by WIPO in collaboration with House of Knowledge. Participants will engage in a simulated environment to navigate the creation of a Patent Landscape Report (PLR). This hands-on game-based learning experience promotes teamwork and knowledge exchange, making it an essential opportunity for anyone interested in deepening their patent analytics knowledge.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Magnus Hakvåg is CEO of House of Knowledge, a consultancy that offers strategic advice on how best to protect a company’s innovations and competitive advantages. An expert of over 25 years in innovation, IP/IPR and standards, Magnus served as Convenor of the ISO working group on innovation management terminology (leading to the publication of ISO 56000:2020) and was involved in the revision of the OECD Oslo Manual (4th edition, 2018). Hakvåg teach at several universities including CEIPI/University of Strasbourg at the Executive MIPLM (Intellectual Property Law and Management).


    Fantastic Platform Patents and Where to Find Them
     Daniela Bar El & Yonit Ronen - CoFounders of D&Y IP

    Platform patents comprise claims directed to a biotechnological system or process that may relate to multiple different products. When conducting Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) searches, it is essential to identify such platform patents, as they typically provide broad protection covering a class of products and may impact entire product pipelines rather than a single product candidate.

    This presentation addresses the critical need for specialized search strategies to effectively identify and evaluate these dominant patents. Standard keyword and classification-based searches are often insufficient, as they may fail to capture the full scope of these patents.

           We explore advanced, multi-faceted methodologies, including bio-sequence, chemical, and artificial intelligence search strategy designs.

           Using a multi specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) technology as a representative case study, we demonstrate how to design a comprehensive search strategy that integrates multiple technological elements, including textual analysis, bio-sequence searching, and chemical structure searching.

           Finally, we generalize the insights gained from this example to propose a structured framework for searching complex biotechnological platforms. Key guiding questions for strategy design are identified, providing practical guidance for patent professionals conducting robust and reliable FTO searches.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Daniela Bar El is a certified Israeli patent attorney and Co-Founder of D&Y IP, a boutique consultancy specializing in high-end patent search and IP intelligence services for patent attorneys, in-house counsel, and R&D teams. She holds an MSc in Molecular Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science and brings extensive experience from working in-house at global pharmaceutical companies, a leading IP firm in Australia, and biotechnology startups. Daniela combines scientific depth with practical industry insight to deliver strategic, reliable patent search solutions across complex life-science technologies. 


    Yonit Ronen is a Co-Founder of D&Y IP, a boutique consultancy specializing in high-level patent search and IP intelligence services for patent attorneys, in-house counsel, technology transfer offices, and R&D teams. She brings over 25 years of experience in patent and scientific searching, having worked in both a technology transfer office and a global pharmaceutical company. As part of a patent information specialist group, she delivered comprehensive IP search services across all company divisions, supporting both generic and innovative development programs to inform strategic decisions throughout the innovation lifecycle. 

    In today’s rapidly evolving IP landscape, where the volume and complexity of patent data continue to grow, Yonit has been helping clients address the increasing challenge of extracting actionable insights from large, diverse datasets to maintain competitive advantage and ensure robust IP protection. 

    Yonit holds an M.A. in Information Science from Bar-Ilan University and has a scientific background in Chemistry. She is a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP), certified by the International Standards Board (ISBQPIP).


    Strategic Two-Pronged Approach to Freedom to Operate (FTO) for Complex Formulations
     Harita S Achanta - Director, Marketing & HR - SciTech Patent Art Services Pvt. Ltd.

    Conducting Freedom to Operate (FTO) analyses is a critical milestone of a product development cycle. Given the sensitive nature of such analyses where the full product formulation needs to be reviewed and searched, companies are often sensitive to outsourcing such search needs. However, when there are frequent new product launches or when internal resources are limited, the need to outsource such searches is high. IP or R&D professionals, in such situations, face a strategic dilemma of how to conduct exhaustive patent clearances externally without compromising sensitive technical know-how or overextending budgets.

    This presentation outlines a well demonstrated, two-pronged methodology for conducting FTO searches on client-defined formulations, while effectively balancing confidentiality and cost, in order to overcome enforcement barriers.

    We contrast two distinct strategies for FTO:

    1.    The Complete Formulation Search:

    This comprehensive approach, used when confidentiality constraints are minimal, yields a highly refined set of probable blocking patents suitable for direct decision-making.

    2.    The Isolated Ingredient Search:

    When confidentiality is critical, the formulation is deconstructed and searched by individual ingredients, while the final synthesis of results is performed by the client.

    Attendees will gain insights into the specific query structures, and outcomes associated with each approach. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped to select the most appropriate approach based on their budgetary constraints, and the sensitivity of their chemical or biological innovations.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Harita S. Achanta is the Director of Marketing at SciTech Patent Art, a global intellectual property research and analytics firm. In this role, she leads the firm’s marketing initiatives, helping to position and communicate the firm’s patent analytics and IP services to a diverse international client base.

    She holds a background in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, is a U.S. Registered Patent Agent and has an MBA. Harita has collaborated with multinational clients across industries and brings a practical, client-focused perspective on how organizations can leverage patent intelligence to stay ahead of emerging innovation trends.


    Freedom to Operate Studies assisted by Large Language Models
     Zhifu Shu - Distinguished Research Associate, ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company

    Freedom to operate (FTO) addresses a critical question for commercialization: can a product be made, used, sold, or deployed in a target market without infringing on others’ rights?  As patent landscapes become increasingly complex and global, FTO must be completed faster without sacrificing quality or rigor. This presentation explores how large language models (LLMs) can support FTO in two key ways.  First, as a review tool, LLMs can help speed up the screening of search results by following human guidance on what to keep or discard.  Second, as a search tool, LLMs can enhance coverage by suggesting synonyms, broader concepts, and relevant classifications that complement traditional search methods.  We will share examples of search performance using both commercial and in-house models. Finally, we will discuss insights from early testing—where LLMs consistently add value, where they fall short, and the governance practices that ensure safe adoption, including human checkpoints and uncertainty tagging.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Zhifu Shu joined ExxonMobil’s Information Research and Analysis (IR&A) unit in 2001 and currently serves as Senior Advisor for Information Research within the Central Library & Information Center (CLIC) under the Strategy and Information division. Since 2022, he has led the organization of the popular in-house client outreach webinar series, CLIC Connect. Zhifu was honored with the PIUG Service Award at the 2012 PIUG Annual Conference. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Wuhan University.


    WEDNESDAY PROGRAM


    Human vs Machine- a comparative analysis of AI-driven and traditional prior art methods

    Christine Marie Geluk - Principal and Founder, Librarian At Your Service LLC

    This analysis compares traditional prior art searches with generative‑AI–assisted approaches across USPTO, EPO, WIPO and PubMed. Traditional searches provide high precision, strong reproducibility, and clear documentation that aligns well with established examination standards, but these can be time‑intensive and depend heavily on expert knowledge. In contrast, generative AI accelerates early‑stage scoping and broadens conceptual exploration through rapid term generation and semantic expansion, though it requires careful verification to avoid hallucinated or non‑citable references. The analysis will show that the best approach is the best of both worlds that includes the ideation delivered by generative AI combined with the human-curated rigorous search methods that support defensibility and compliance with global prior art expectations.


    BIOGRAPHY 

    Christine Geluk is an experienced scientific-technical research librarian with expertise in non-patent & patent literature. Specifically, Chrissy leverages the skills (and then some) she mastered in graduate school and continues to strengthen as a business owner providing information services. Chrissy earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Fordham University, and graduate degree in library & information sciences from Simmons. As a librarian supporting the information services needs of her clients mostly in the biotech, pharma and life sciences, Chrissy applies her knowledge of literature and technology when delivering intelligent searches & analyses and even end-user training. Chrissy is a recipient of the 2013 PIUG Service Award.


    AI, Hybrid Intelligence, and the Future of Patent Information - Key Takeaways from the CEPIUG 17th Anniversary Conference

    Ahmet Bugra Baser - Vice President Turkish PIUG (TURPIUG)

    This presentation summarizes the key insights from the CEPIUG 17th Anniversary Conference (Istanbul, 14–16 September 2025), focusing on how artificial intelligence, hybrid intelligence, and methodological transparency are transforming the patent information profession. Building on the conference theme “Data to Wisdom: What’s Next in Patent Information,” it highlights the shift from traditional information retrieval toward strategic intelligence and predictive insight

    BIOGRAPHY 

    Ahmet Bugra Baser is the Vice President of TURPIUG

    Advancements in China's AI-related search products (Working Title)

    Fu Yidong - Director of Overseas Department, International Patent Publishing House

    Latest advancements in China's AI-related search products and  the critical role of IP related data in search and analysis. 


    Patent analytics integrated with authoritative scientific data & AI
    Stephen K Boyer - Idea Guy, Molecular Assets , Collabra Inc.

    Transformer-based large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Gemini generate responses by predicting statistically likely text continuations. While effective for general language tasks, these models can be unreliable for patent intelligence workflows, where rare technical relationships and precise attribution matter. In such settings, transformer LLMs may produce confident-sounding but incorrect statements (“hallucinations”), particularly when asked to infer uncommon associations across compounds, targets, mechanisms, or claims.

    We will present a hybrid LLM designed as an authoritative alternative for patent search and analysis. Our system is grounded in validated scientific facts derived from hundreds of structured database tables and integrates billions of curated scientific entities extracted from worldwide patents and the broader scientific literature. This architecture supports high-precision querying across patents, inventors, organizations, compounds, targets, and biological relationships—while maintaining explicit evidence for frequent relationships and robust performance on rare relationships. The result is a patent-focused AI system that delivers traceable, fact-grounded outputs without hallucination.


    BIOGRAPHY 

    Stephen Boyer operates at the intersection of chemistry, information science, and intellectual property. His work centers on automating the curation and analysis of patents and scientific literature to improve discovery and decision-making across chemistry, the physical sciences, medicine, and IP.

    He brings ten years of pharmaceutical synthesis and scale-up experience (Ciba-Geigy/Novartis) and 25 years in technical roles at IBM Research and IBM Watson. For the past five years, he worked at Google Patents, helping curate and integrate large-scale scientific and patent corpora across Google Patents, Google Scholar, and Google Books. He contributed significantly to the public availability of patent information on the internet and is now collaborating with former colleagues to develop authoritative AI applications that support rigorous exploration of scientific and patent content.

    Steve holds a BA from Temple University and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from Tufts University. His publications and patents span novel drug syntheses as well as text and image analytics.


    Who's Actually in Charge Here? The Professional Searcher's Role in an AI-Assisted World

    Stephanie Curcio - NLPatent, Martha Yates - Bayer Crop Science, Jonathan Skovholt - Ensemble IP

    AI can now take an invention disclosure, run a search, and return results before you've finished your coffee. So what exactly is your job now?

    This panel doesn't have an agenda to sell you on AI or talk you out of it. It asks the harder questions instead; when AI is doing the searching, who is accountable for what it misses? How much automation is actually the right amount, and does that answer change depending on the search, the stakes, and the team?

    It will also make the case that selecting the right tool has less to do with feature lists and more to do with your own search instincts, the way you construct a strategy, and the workflows you've built around them. The best searchers have evolved the conversation from "which AI tool is best?" to "which tool(s) fit the way I work?", which is the harder, more interesting, and far more impactful question.

    Expect disagreement. Expect honest answers. And expect to leave thinking differently about what it means to be really, really good at this job in 2026.

    The Nine Billion Names for Finding Prior Art

    Ron Kaminecki - Patent Attorney - Kaminecki IP LLC

    Information retrieval has evolved continuously since the amount of published information was deemed to have exploded, with the indication that perhaps it has suddenly become unwieldy and overwhelming. Many diverse systems of information retrieval have been developed and the focus on patents was not only due to the importance and reliability of the information but also to the data fields which give clues about the context of the data contained within. The newest systems of information retrieval for intellectual property are now eclipsing traditional methods, but prior art is still prior art. This presentation will look at how these systems have incorporated new views of patent searching.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Ron Kaminecki has been searching patents and advising researchers for over forty years, having worked for companies such as IIT Research Institute, Lockheed Missiles and Space, Dialog, Knight-Ridder Information, Abbott Laboratories, Thomson-Reuters, ProQuest and Questel, always in the area of patent information. He has a BS in Chemistry, an MS in Computer Science and a JD with a Certificate in Patent Law and is also a Qualified Patent Information Professional. He is a US patent attorney and is admitted to the Supreme Court of Illinois and the Northern District Court of Illinois. He has worked as an expert witness and is an inventor for a patent on a patent prosecution system, is a co-author of NISO standard Z39.58 for an online search language and serves as Director-at-Large for the Patent Information User Group. Currently, he teaches patent searching at the University of New Hampshire Law School as an adjunct and is Vice-Chair of PIUG and also Chair of the ISBQPIP Supervisory Council.Presentation of Base Term, Patent Term Adjustment, Patent Term Extension (touching on international equivalents), and Pediatric Extension with a PowerPoint deck that will be made available to the audience to use for them to make the presentation to their clients. Or, their clients can take the course for free on the Pharmaceutical Officer Academy website. Discussion to focus on how to leverage such shared baseline knowledge into good communications with clients and within corporate research and legal functions.Presentation of Base Term, Patent Term Adjustment, Patent Term Extension (touching on international equivalents), and Pediatric Extension with a PowerPoint deck that will be made available to the audience to use for them to make the presentation to their clients. Or, their clients can take the course for free on the Pharmaceutical Officer Academy website. Discussion to focus on how to leverage such shared baseline knowledge into good communications with clients and within corporate research and legal functions.

    THURSDAY PROGRAM

    IP Operations – Working Smarter With AI

    Dr. Pallav Patel - Founding Partner, IP Simplified Technologies

    The use of advanced AI-enabled technologies has greatly increased efficiency in the practice of IP prosecution. However, many organizations are reluctant to incorporate these tools. This session will outline how an organization can deploy this technology with minimal disruption. The discussion will include a brief overview of one such technology which has been proven to increase efficiency by over 35%. Results show that this technology saves time and money by automating many repetitive tasks. The presentation concludes that while organizations are wary of adopting these technologies, AI improves productivity, minimizes errors, adds efficiency, and reduces costs.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Dr. Pallav Patel is a researcher and intellectual property professional with deep expertise at the intersection of cancer research and patent prosecution. During his tenure at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), he contributed to over 20 scientific publications and three PCT patent applications, along with multiple national and regional-stage filings in the field of oncology. Dr. Patel subsequently worked in IP prosecution at leading patent law firms in New York, gaining hands-on experience in global patent drafting and prosecution strategies. He is currently a Founding Partner at IP Simplified Technologies LLP, where he focuses on streamlining and simplifying intellectual property prosecution for innovators worldwide. 

    Baseline IP Knowledge for Clients

    Matthew Holley - President, Pharmaceutical Officers Academy

    Presentation of Base Term, Patent Term Adjustment, Patent Term Extension (touching on international equivalents), and Pediatric Extension with a PowerPoint deck that will be made available to the audience to use for them to make the presentation to their clients. Or, their clients can take the course for free on the Pharmaceutical Officer Academy website. Discussion to focus on how to leverage such shared baseline knowledge into good communications with clients and within corporate research and legal functions.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Formerly General Counsel for Pharming Healthcare, Inc. (biotech company), General Counsel for Meda Pharmaceuticals, and Compliance Director for Shionogi. Prior to industry, was an attorney at Bryan Cave. Also U.S. Air Force Captain and high school teacher.


    Leveraging patent analytics to strengthen R&D initiatives

    Katie Brown -  Senior Customer Success Manager, LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions 

    Patent analytics and data visualization are increasingly critical for guiding R&D strategy in fast-moving technology landscapes. This presentation will demonstrate how advanced patent analytics can be used to identify emerging technologies, uncover whitespace opportunities, and monitor competitors and potential disruptors within a defined technology space. Through multiple use cases, we will illustrate how visualization techniques translate complex patent data into actionable insights for strategic decision-making. Examples will leverage LexisNexis PatentSight+ and additional AI-powered patent strategy solutions. Attendees will gain practical perspectives on integrating patent analytics into R&D planning and technology intelligence workflows.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Katie Brown is a Senior Customer Success Manager at LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions. Since joining LexisNexis in 2021, she has been supporting clients through training and sharing best practices for leveraging our patent searching, drafting, and analytics solutions. Her goal is to enable clients to gain powerful insights and make strategic decisions using patent data and analytics, which will in turn bring success and efficiency to their organizations’ innovation.


    Human IP Experts + Value-added databases = Human Intelligence

    Matt Eberle & John Willmore

    PIUG was founded in part to encourage patent data publishers to make their databases more useful for patent searchers. In the age of AI, getting some patent information is arguably easier than ever. What then, is the value of value-added databases and how do we leverage it?

    Does it matter which IP you find and what details you can determine? Human expertise with value-added sources makes for better intelligence.

    Patent sources are not identical whether in coverage or content. We’ll look at some example searches carried out on both free and value-added databases and analyze the results to see what documents we find in multiple sources and which in a single source. And, we'll look at how finding the same IP in multiple sources makes for a richer view of the landscape thanks to unique fields (and human editors).

    What about AI generated content? Human expertise and the transparency provided by value-added databases offer the best way forward.


    BIOGRAPHY

    Matt Eberle joined the BizInt Solutions team in July 2013 as Lead Developer for Analytics and Custom Solutions. Matt helps customers use the BizInt Smart Charts and VantagePoint tools to create new solutions to address their challenges and problems.

    Matt worked extensively with both BizInt Smart Charts for Drug Pipelines and BizInt Smart Charts for Patents for over ten years at Wyeth, Pfizer and Sunovion, where he held positions of Senior Information Scientist and Pharmaceutical Information Analyst. He is the BizInt expert on VantagePoint - Smart Charts Edition

    John Willmore is Vice President, Product Development, for BizInt Solutions, Inc. and manages the development of all aspects of the BizInt Solutions product line. John has over 30 years of experience in processing, analyzing and integrating patent and drug pipeline information, and has worked closely with patent and drug pipeline publishers over that period. He was the head of the TRW Smart Charts team at TRW, Inc. and along with Diane Webb, founded BizInt Solutions in 1996. John spends his free time doing woodworking, playing amateur ice hockey, and competing with the dogs. He is an American Kennel Club judge for earthdog, dachshund field trials, and agility.



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