Blog-Posts from August, 2010

For many this is a mantra that they base their life on. They are disciples of constant learning and look at every day as an opportunity to learn something new. It is a worthy goal and provides opportunities for growth and enrichment and in a number of cases an escape from routine and stagnation.

Besides its fun to learn new things and push yourself to take on new challenges. Frankly most of us joined this profession since we enjoyed the challenge of taking on each new search as an opportunity to learn something about a technology or area which perhaps we had not worked in before. A desire to constantly learn and apply knowledge to difficult problems are critical skills for patent information professionals.

Since this is the case the importance of education both for people just entering our profession and those of us who have been doing this sort of thing for a while can't be overstated. It is so critical that PIUG has even made a point to include education in our Mission Statement: The mission of PIUG is to support, assist, improve and enhance the success of patent information professionals through leadership, education, communication, advocacy and networking.

PIUG has taken a significant step forward in it's mission to support, assist, improve and enhance the success of patent information professionals through education by obtaining the rights to the patent information workshop formerly provided by the Pharmaceutical Education and Research Institute (PERI) entitled, “Patent Information for the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries”. PIUG has retitled this course and we will be calling it Patent Information Fundamentals. Under PERI’s management, the course was intended to cover the information needs of people from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, but PIUG is adding a section on mechanical and electrical patent information so that it meets the needs of all of our members. We are happy to announce that we will offer the workshop on October 14th and 15th in conjunction with the 2010 PIUG NE Meeting in New Brunswick, NJ.

More than 400 people have taken this workshop over the last twenty-one years and it is truly a cornerstone in the teaching of patent information here in the United States. One of the items that really set this particular course apart is the amazing faculty that make themselves available for it. Led by Edlyn Simmons the faculty is a who's who of patent information giants who combined have more than 150 years of experience in this field. There are also a number of topics covered over the two days staring with patent law basics, treatise on searching particular types of patent information and discussions on how to apply these teachings in the corporate environment. Students who enroll in this workshop will be gaining the opportunity to learn the in's and out's of patent searching and information from some of the finest instructors available on the topic.

See the announcement that registration is now open, and watch for other announcements in the discussion forum and an email notice that will be sent to members which will provide additional details on the course. You can register here.

PIUG is very excited to be taking this step into providing additional educational resources for our members. There will be more courses planned in the future as we continue to provide resources to support and enhance our profession.

Thanks for the time,

Tony