Patent Searching Fundamentals Certificate

The PIUG Patent Searching Fundamentals provides the foundation of essential patent knowledge by describing approaches to effective patent searching. Learn from leading patent professionals with varied and extensive backgrounds in intellectual property information.

This course has been accredited by ISBQPIP for training for a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP^TM).  It is listed on the following QPIP page:  https://www.qpip.org/course/piug-patent-searching-fundamentals. 

View full biographies of each faculty member.

Book the complete series to get one session free!

Save approximately 15% over registering for each webinar individually.  Register HERE.

Membership Status     Series Fee      Individual Webinar Fee

PIUG Member                  $595                $99

Non-Member                   $885                $149

By becoming a PIUG member you can save the cost of membership with the PIUG Member complete series discount!    Join PIUG

Course Offerings

Webinar 1       February 5, 2025              10 AM – 11:30 ET         Instructor: John Zabilski

Understanding Intellectual Property for Patent Searchers  (Return to Table)

Learn key patent information providing a working knowledge of important aspects every searcher should know and to help guide you towards obtaining relevant search results.

• What constitutes intellectual property
• Advantages of owning a patent
• Types of patent publications
• Parts of a patent publication
• Basics of U.S. Patent Law
• Essential International Patent Law
• Patent timeline including publication stages
• Patent term adjustments and extensions

Webinar 2       February 12, 2025              10 AM – 11:30 ET         Instructor: Martha Yates

Choosing and Evaluating Patent Searching Resources  (Return to Table)

Learn how to find patent searching resources and more importantly how to evaluate those resources: 

• How do you evaluate data quality? 
• How do you evaluate search and analysis features? 
• How do you choose the right tool or tools for your particular circumstances? 

These questions are discussed along with a review of available free and commercial resources.

Webinar 3       February 19, 2025              10 AM – 11:30 ET             Instructor: John Zabilski

Essential Patent Search Techniques  (Return to Table)

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

Webinar 4      February 27, 2025               10 AM – 11:30 ET          Instructor: Stephen Adams

Patent Classification  (Return to Table)

This session will provide an overview to the effective use of patent classifications.  The systems covered will be the International Patent Classification and its derivatives, the CPC and the FI systems.  You will encounter illustrations of usage for different types of patent information retrieval.  There are several mechanisms to enable the user to identify the classification marks which may be suitable for each subject-based search; tools for this will be discussed, relevant to each of the distinct classification systems covered.  The revision cycles will be described together with means for keeping your knowledge up-to-date.

Webinar 5       March 12, 2025   10 AM – 11:30 ET           Instructor: Dominic DeMarco

Patent Searching – Beyond the Basics  (Return to Table)

Whether it is Week 10, Month 10, or Year 10 of searching patents, there will always be a new tip or trick that can make you better. In this fast paced and interactive class, we will help you think creatively to develop adaptive search queries and multi-pronged strategies that will hopefully keep you from being replaced by a machine learning algorithm…for a few years, at least.

Students need to have completed the preceding search courses through PIUG or have at least one year of patent searching experience. All should come to class with an open mind and willingness to do things differently. Every patent searcher has routines they follow, but our goal in this class is to help you shake things up and avoid falling into a rut. This will help you approach every search fresh, increase your efficiency, and hopefully, make your job less boring.

Webinar 6           March 19, 2025                10 AM – 11:30 ET           Instructor: Stephen Adams

Finding and Understanding Legal Status Information  (Return to Table)

This session will provide a background to the importance of retrieving information on the legal status of patents and patent applications, both at the document level and in complete collections.  The differing models of patent prosecution will be outlined briefly, followed by developments in recording legal status at the national level and compiling it into multinational databases.  The key sources for major jurisdictions will be covered, together with information on federated databases and their searchable characteristics.

Webinar 7           March 26, 2025     10 AM – 11:30 ET         Instructor: Tony Trippe

Introduction to Patent Analytics and Technical Intelligence  (Return to Table)

This introductory webinar provides examples of the stages required for performing patent analytics, and for the preparation of a Patent Landscape Report (PLR). Patent analytics and PLRs support informed decision-making and are designed to efficiently address the concerns associated with making high stakes decisions in technologically advanced areas with a maximum degree of confidence. For many years' decision-makers operated based on personal networks and intuition. With the institution of patent analytics, and PLRs, it is possible for these critical decisions to be made with data-driven approaches that deliver informed choices, and lower risk profiles. This session will provide an overview of the patent analysis process and provide a case study.

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