Overview

The conference will celebrate PIUG's 30th Anniversary of existence and will feature world-renowned experts on patent information for technology research and planning, for legal organizations, for patent offices and for overall corporate IP management (technology licensing and related activities). The conference will include many opportunities for discussion and part of the activities on the Tuesday of the conference will be dedicated to visiting the exhibit hall to learn about the new patent information tools and developments within the industry. Many professionally enriching workshops will also be held in conjunction with this conference (before, during and after the technical sessions).

Attendees typically have a professional, scientific, economic or technical interest in patents and represent a multitude of organizations including corporations, universities, government agencies, non-government organizations and non-profit organizations. Previous conferences over the last four years that were held in Atlanta, Georgia; Vancouver, Washington; Lombard, Illinois; and Garden Grove, California. Each drew around two hundred attendees from all over the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. We expect over 250 attendees in 2018.

PLEASE BE ADVISED that attendees and speakers who are not members of PIUG will not have post-conference access to the conference presentations posted on the PIUG wiki, which is a PIUG member benefit. To enable post-conference access to PIUG conference presentations, and to also save significantly on PIUG conference registration fees, BECOME A MEMBER of PIUG by going to the PIUG Membership page.

Join us for a truly great conference to meet others with a professional interest in patent information within a block of the USPTO. This is the second year that we will be utilizing an enhanced Meeting App which we purchased from Crowd Compass. Instructions for downloading will be found HERE when available along with instructions for building your personal schedule and helpful tips. The app itself also contains instructional pages within its design. The app will be used for sending push notifications during the conference in order to keep the schedule current and notify you of important announcements from PIUG while in Alexandria and conference related announcements afterwards.

Registration

Registration is now open. The deadline for Early-bird registration has been extended to March 23, 2018, after which rates will increase. Rates are available by clicking details under the PIUG 2018 Annual Conference on the PIUG Calendar Page.  Hotel information is available on the Travel Page.  Negotiated rates will end on April 12, 2018 at 5:00 PM EDT so book now!

Keynote Speaker

We are excited to announce the keynote speaker for the 2018 Annual Conference: Joseph Matal, Formerly Performed the Functions and Duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Joseph Matal provides leadership and oversight to one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world, with over 12,000 employees and an annual budget of over $3 billion. Mr. Matal also serves as the principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters.

Schedule at a Glance

Sponsorship Opportunities

PIUG welcomes new and returning sponsors to join us for networking and showcasing your products or services to our international audience of patent information users. Please see the summary of Sponsorship Opportunities.

PIUG gratefully acknowledges the generous support of all our sponsors and exhibitors.

Program Committee

Program Co-Chairs – Ron Kaminecki, Stephen Adams and Martha Yates
Members – Kartar Arora, Andrea Davis, Dominic DeMarco, and Zhifu Shu

Planning Committee

Planning Co-Chairs – Martha Yates and Ken Koubek
Stu Kaback Business Impact Award Committee – Stephen Adams, Malcolm Hallam, Elliott Linder, Yun Yun Yang, and Martha Yates
Brian Stockdale Award Committee – Edlyn Simmons (Chair), Stephen Adams, Ken Koubek, and Tony Trippe
Evaluations – Ken Koubek
Gifts – Ken Koubek
Hospitality - TBD
First Time Attendee Welcome & Orientation – Suzanne Robins (Chair) and the Member Relations Committee
Meeting Book – Diane Webb
Photography – Sandra Unger, Jim Brown & Yuri Mozolev
Social Media – Social Media Committee
Sponsorship & Exhibits – Jane Thompson (Chair) & Ken Koubek
Travel – Ken Koubek
Webpages – Tom Wolff (Webmaster)
Workshops – Martha Yates