PIUG - Patent Information Users Group, Inc. upcoming events

Teach Patents to Speak Your Company’s Tech Language: Best Practices for Using Custom Fields (29 Jan 2025)

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:00:00 GMT

PIUG announces a FREE webinar scheduled for January 29, 2025 11 AM ET for all paid PIUG members.

Presenter: Andrew Klein, Principal Solution Consultant at Minesoft

The patent literature is an invaluable resource for understanding technology landscapes and gaining insight into competitors. However, it has also traditionally proven difficult to organize, analyze, and present that “speaks” to people who aren’t patent information professionals. One strategy for overcoming this difficulty is utilizing custom fields, a feature in many patent research platforms, to overlay a company-specific taxonomy on the standard patent data available. In this session, Andrew Klein, Principal Solution Consultant at Minesoft, will present best practices for using custom fields to make several common patent intelligence workflows easier:

· Identifying prior art for patentability

· Filtering large datasets

· Monitoring/alerting on technologies of interest

· Creating visualizations for analyzing patent data by technology

Given the cost of the webinar and the potential savings to your patent searching practice, how can you not attend this remarkable event?

The session will be recorded and available on demand at PIUG Education and Training

Please share this announcement with your colleagues and post to your professional association calendars.

Essential Patent Search Techniques (19 Feb 2025)

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Instructor: John Zabilski

Learn essential information and techniques to effectively search for patent information.

Understanding database coverage, content and structure
Balancing precision versus recall
Comparing search types including bibliographic, keyword, classification, citation, full-text and indexed content
Building comprehensive search statements using search operators and command language techniques including nesting, truncation, wildcards and stemming
Contrasting search features across free and commercial resources
Considering necessary steps for different search types: Patentability, Freedom to Operate and Validity
Practical search example applying these techniques

NOTE: Before registering for any of the individual webinars , please consider registering for the complete series to save money. Register for the Series HERE!

PIUG Course - Essential Techniques for Finding Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) (04 May 2025)

Sun, 04 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT

INSTRUCTOR: John Zabilski Chair, PIUG Education & Training Committee

Registered US Patent Agent (No. 59,626)

Qualified Patent Information Professional (No. 20190010100257)

It’s known by several names including Freedom to Practice or a clearance search. Without Freedom to Operate you may not be able to make, use or sell your invention. An FTO search looks for in-force patents in a geographic area of interest to avoid potential infringement. Discover what is required to complete a comprehensive search and identify what is still legally protected to better inform business decisions. This course provides understanding of the fundamental concepts of FTO, identifies essential resources for finding FTO and includes search examples demonstrating suggested approaches for FTO searches. Also learn how to utilize freely accessible resources to determine what is legally in-force such as INPADOC and national patent office registers as well as vendor-based alternatives. Whether you are new to performing FTO searches or more experienced, this course provides focused techniques that save your time and make you more effective in achieving accurate results.

This course is offered as a virtual course for those not attending the PIUG 2025 Annual Conference in-person or participating as a virtual registrant of the conference.

Available live in-person/virtually online or access on-demand afterwards!

PIUG Business Meeting (27 May 2026)

Wed, 27 May 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Patent Information Users Group - Business Meeting

PIUG MONTHLY Calendar - May 27

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81017399783?pwd=6wlmvgF2eWc2SsQq4ypaJtY0kBAkkY.1

Plan to join us on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 10:00am ET, for the PIUG Business Meeting.

Registration

Agenda includes:

Report from Chair
Committee Reports
Treasurer
Conference
Certification
Partnerships and Patent Offices
Education
Electronic Communications

Community Engagement Hour (10 Jun 2026)

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Patent Information Users Group - Community Engagement Hour

PIUG MONTHLY Calendar - June 10

Theme: Mastering Sequence Searching in a Rapidly Evolving Patent Landscape

The Case for Sequence Search: Understand the fundamentals of biological sequence searching in the patent context — nucleotide, amino acid, and beyond — and why conventional keyword searching simply isn't enough.
Speaking the Language: Demystify the critical parameters that define a meaningful sequence hit — percentage identity, query coverage, E-values, and alignment scoring — and understand how to interpret these figures in a patent search context where "similar enough" can have significant legal consequences.
Tools of the Trade: Explore the leading sequence search platforms and databases — from NCBI's BLAST to commercial tools — and understand when to use which, and why no single tool tells the whole story.
The ST.26 Shift: Examine the impact of the WIPO ST.26 sequence listing standard, how the transition from ST.25 has reshaped search workflows, and what practitioners need to consider.
Designing a sequence-based Search Strategy: Gain practical frameworks for building sequence search strategies that hold up in freedom-to-operate, invalidity, and patentability contexts — including how to handle variants, fragments, and functional equivalents.
Networking: Share search war stories, tool tips, and lessons learned with peers navigating the intersection of bioinformatics and patent intelligence.

These bimonthly meetings provide informal get-togethers to network and share experiences around patent searching, databases & resources, analytics, etc

. This is a great way to meet people in the patent information profession, connect with old friends & colleagues, and learn from each other.