IPI-ConfEx Programme
Preliminary Programme Schedule
International Patent Information
Conference & Exposition
IPI-ConfEx: Best Practices in Patent Information Management and Searching
Sunday 4 March 2018
14:00 - 18:00 Educational Vendor Workshops
18:00 - 19:30 Welcome Reception & Exposition
Monday 5 March 2018
09:00 - 17:00 Conference Sessions & Exposition
18:00 - 21:00 Conference Gala Dinner &
Networking Event
Tuesday 6 March 2018
09:00 - 17:00 Conference Sessions & Exposition
Wednesday 7 March 2018
09:00 - 17:00 Conference Sessions & Exposition
Preliminary Programme for IPI-ConfEx 2018
The primary focus of this conference is on training. The conference will feature the highly regarded IPI-
MasterClass as well as three new 90-minute IPI Skills Development Tutorials on key subject areas of
interest to patent information professionals. These extended presentations during the plenary session
will allow the conference attendees to take a deep dive into several key areas which are essential to
the success of patent analysts. The EPO will send three speakers, including providing a workshop on
Asian patent information. Several industry speakers will also highlight key challenges facing patent
information professionals today.
Abstracts for presentations and workshops include:
IPI MasterClass: Free to Operate - But When? A Look at Post-Grant Amendments in Major Jurisdictions, What Can Happen
After a Patent is Granted, and How to Find Out About the Changes
Stephen Adams - Managing Director, Magister Ltd.
Industry is demanding more and more complex decisions concerning the freedom-to-operate in a defined technical space. However, simply reading and
interpreting the claims as issued at grant is not always a definitive guide to the scope of the enforceable claims, several years on. When other companies wish to
compete, it is vital that they develop a clear understanding not just of ownership (itself a dynamic factor), but also are the nature of the rights themselves. Claims
may be amended post-grant, by action from the patent owner or third parties, through administrative proceedings in front of an IPO, by court order or by other
legal processes. In order to establish a realistic freedom-to-operate opinion, attorneys need to know the scope of the claims actually in force. The information
sources covering post-grant amendments are many, diffuse and often obscure. This session will review some of the major jurisdictions, and look at what can
happen after your patent is granted, and how you can find out about the changes.
IPI Skills Development Tutorial: An Update on European Patent Law for Patent Information Professionals Including Recent
Developments Regarding Brexit and the Unitary Patent
Noel J. Akers - European and U.K. Patent Attorney, NJ Akers & Co.
This first half of this tutorial will cover the basic concepts of European patent law important for patentability, opposition and freedom to operate searches. The
second half of the tutorial will highlight recent developments in the European patent scene which may interest patent information managers and search
professionals, including Brexit and the Unitary Patent.
Competitor Intelligence from Trademarks Data and Its Use to Add Value and Enhance Landscaping Activities
Susan Bates - Senior Patent Analyst, Shell International Ltd
Use of trademark data is essential for assessing low-tech knowledge-intensive organisations, start-ups, SMEs where the tendency to patent is lower, and
organisations that are a service provider. In an age of interconnectedness through software innovations, landscaping patent data alone may not give sufficient
insight. Using trademark data can add value to the landscape by identifying which products and services are key to and commercialised by the organisation and
in which markets. This paper will: introduce you to key features of trademarks data used to define trademark value, the definition of the trademark family, and
illustrate through case studies how free trademark databases such as TMView, WIPO Global Brands and others can be used.
Emerging Market Patent Information – A Comparison of Coverage in Databases and Patent Registers Using Data for Nine
Countries and Five Vendors
Nicholas Cole - Senior Information Scientist, Global Patents, GlaxoSmithKline
A Task Force of the PDG (Patent Documentation Group) ONLINE working group has undertaken a study comparing various aspects of emerging market country
coverage amongst 5 patent information vendors. Sources were compared against patent office registers for 9 countries, as well as Inpadoc/Espacenet and
conclusions and recommendations were shared in order to facilitate product development. In a parallel effort, observations relating to the design and usability of
the national registers were collated and communicated to the PDG working group IMPACT. This resulted in the setting up of a Task Force at WIPO to survey
register content, functionality and future plans with respect to their publication practices. It is hoped that the outcome may be the preparation of a set of
recommendations to patent offices for providing access to publicly available patent information.
IPI Skills Development Tutorial: Freedom to Operate Searching Fundamentals and Advanced Topics - Best Practices
Explained Using Case Studies
Dr. Monika Hanelt - Agfa NV
The first half of this tutorial will cover freedom to operate (FTO) fundamentals, including scope of FTO, basics of infringement, understanding FTO vs.
patentability and the FTO search as such. The second half of the tutorial will cover more advanced topics related to the impact of legal decisions on FTO
searches and explaining best practices of FTO-searching by the use of case studies.
EPO Workshop: Dead Patents Walking? Analysing Legal Status Data Provided by Asian National Registers
Jutta Hausser - Asian Patent Information Services, European Patent Office
When discussing legal status data, the focus was on the accurateness, timeliness and completeness of data. Referring to Asia, this meant also finding legal
status data in the respective national registers and overcoming the language barrier. Cooperation between the IP5 offices as well as technical progress helped to
exchange and load data in no time and – thanks to machine translation tools – to understand the meaning of the codes.
Recent initiatives such as the WIPO ST. 27 concentrate also on the status, of a legal event. However, how do we have to understand an event classified as
“unspecified” when it comes to its life expectancy? Are some patents “more” dead than others? Or will they eventually be walking again?
In this workshop we will explore legal status information provided by different Asian patent offices, mainly SIPO, JPO and KIPO, finding the center in the triangle
of legal possibilities, status implications and data availability. Together we will look at different case studies to understand where to look out for any signs of life
and how to more easily analyse the legal status data provided from different legal systems.
Practical Implications of Patent Families on Patent Analytics and Competitive Intelligence
Dr. Joakim Isaksson - Lead IP Analyst, Philips Intellectual Property & Standards
It is generally accepted that counting inventions in the form of patent families rather than each individual regional publication is the preferred way of working with
patent landscapes and competitive patent intelligence. However, conclusions that at a first glance may look relatively straightforward can sometimes be
drastically impacted by how patent families are handled in the analysis. Examples includes finding the most active companies in a landscape, comparing portfolio
size and position, analyzing technology development of selected competitors etc.
In this presentation we would like to illustrate with some practical examples how patent families can influence the analysis and how different business purposes
may motivate different approaches.
Certification – Close to Getting Started
Bettina de Jong
After a second round of feedback on the proposed Articles and Rules for the ISBQPIP (International Standards Board for Qualified Patent Information
Professionals) and the Code-of-Conduct, the team of volunteers has been working on making the final versions, which are required to formally set up the
organisation. The other requirement is to nominate the board (called Supervisory Council) of this organisation, which is the responsibility of the Professional
Representatives Committee. When these two requirements are met, the ISBQPIP can be established officially. The next step would be to open the window for
PER (Prior Experience Recognition) applications to get the first group of QPIPs. At the same time, the preparations of the first exams will be continued. In this
presentation the latest status and next steps will be presented.
IPI Skills Development Tutorial: Opposition and Invalidity Searching - How Patent Offices Look to Novelty and Inventive Step,
What is Needed to Invalidate a Patent, and Guidelines for Setting Up Search Strategies
Aalt van de Kuilen - CEO, Patent Information Services B.V.
Invalidity and opposition seem to be equivalent ways to get rid of a patent.
An invalidity or opposition search is done to identify patent and non-patent documents which may impact the claims of a specific patent, available to the public
before the date of filing. This can help to invalidate blocking patents which are found during a freedom to operate analysis or for any other purpose that blocks
activities.
Several options are available to get rid of these patents.
In general, there are two ways to invalidate a patent:
a.
By court
b.
By approaching the Patent Office
This tutorial will touch on the second approach and will mainly focus on Europe. However, the search strategies to be used for all invalidity activities (in other
countries or regions) can be similar.
This tutorial will go into what is necessary for obtaining a patent, the way claims are constructed, how patent office’s look to novelty and inventive step and the
possibilities to invalidate a patent.
Also, what is needed to invalidate a patent?
Finally, a guideline will be given for possibilities to set-up search strategies for this purpose.
INPADOC Worldwide Legal Event Data: Where is the Journey Heading?
Christian Soltmann - Product Manager Patent Data Services, European Patent Office, Vienna, Austria
Legal event patent data is of key importance in the everyday life of patent information users. Involving legal event data is of vital importance in freedom-to-
operate analyses and a must for advanced patent searches.
An indispensable source of legal event data is the INPADOC worldwide legal event database, which is maintained by the European Patent Office. With about 240
million legal event records for patent applications and patents in around 50 countries and an annual growth rate of 10 per cent, the INPADOC database is the
leading legal event database worldwide.
The presentation overviews the EPO’s current activities to increase the data coverage and completeness of the INPADOC database further, helping to meet the
growing demands of patent information users in the field of legal event data. The presentation will put a special focus on the availability of data on Patent Term
Extensions (e.g. Supplementary Protection Certificates).
Initiatives such as the WIPO ST.27 standard on legal event patent data and the planned INPADOC classification help to make it easier for patent information
users to understand and use legal event data. The presentation will review and compare both initiatives.
The Role of Patent Information in Innovation Management: Survey Results and Lessons Learnt
Heiko Wongel - Director, Patent Information Promotion, European Patent Office
The EPO supports innovation across Europe and, whilst all actors of the innovation process are aware of patents, there is currently little evidence of how many of
them use patent information in their work, or are aware of what it can be used for.
In 2016, the EPO conducted a Pan-European qualitative and quantitative research in order to understand which types and sources of information are used by
innovators at every phase of the innovation process. Another objective of the research was to identify and understand the ranking of patent information as a
source of information in the innovation process.
The presentation will disclose the results of the survey and the audience will hear which type or source of information innovators trust to do their work. It will also
reveal the survey ranking of patent information and its current role in innovation management.
Exemplified Compounds Table display linked to Citing Publications
Maddy Marley - Senior Information Scientist, GlaxoSmithKline
Exemplified compounds resulting from a substructure search are key to making filings based on novelty and inventive step. Conversations with our attorney
clients revealed that they prefer to see a table of structures with hyperlinks to references, rather than a list of references with the structures beneath them. To
provide this structure-led display we have had to rely on internal macros written many years ago, to reorganise the output from Chemical Abstracts, but the
macros are not supported by GSK lT and often crash with large volumes of data. Analytical table tools in third party software have not been able to provide a
solution either.
We use BizInt Smart Charts for Patents to deliver reports, but it did not have the capability to include hit structures and was reference rather than structure
oriented. We have now further collaborated with BizInt to develop a method enabling us to present our structures in an easy to read tabular format hyperlinked to
their references. These tables are now used in our search reports for the chemistry attorneys, giving a succinct view of the compounds exemplified within a
publication (patent and literature) to facilitate decision making.
The conference will also feature presentations from sponsoring organisations, including:
•
TPR International
•
STN
•
Minesoft
•
Search Technology
•
BizInt
Also featured on the programme is the Knowledge Exchange Sessions!
This is a great opportunity for you to learn from and share your expertise and knowledge among peers in structured discussion groups. It's your choice! Please
choose one of the following industry hot topics*.
•
Patent landscaping techniques (and reliability of the results retrieved)
•
Improving searches by artificial intelligence (AI) methods: best practices
•
Post-processing tips & techniques relating to how searchers report results to clients
•
Setting up and managing Current awareness/Competitor Insight technology platforms
•
Patent citations (in general, pros and cons for various search types, etc.)
•
Semantic searching tools (how are we using them and with what results?)
•
Mixing patent and financial information with an intelligent approach
•
Impact of outsourcing searches on R&D organizations and Legal (level of quality received or not received)
•
Consulting (What should we do to become consultants -changing from delivering just what the client asks to providing
the answer to the client’s question? What is required? How can we make the change? What are the best practices?)
•
New initiatives to promote awareness and add value for your customers and organisation
•
Managing your management (how to promote yourself, cost control, communication, etc.)
•
Tips for training new searchers
•
Preparing for certification
•
Sharing information within and across patent info user groups
•
System improvement ideas for vendors (What functionalities/capabilities must a good patent analysis/searching tool
have?)
•
Wish list and reasons for global cooperation (development of analytics tools, standardization of legal status, patent
families, assignee names, etc.)
*This list is subject to change.
The Knowledge Exchange Sessions will be followed by a Reporting segment where each group will share key highlights from their discussion with all attendees.
Below is an overview of the conference schedule.
(Timings are subject to change)
Programme subject to change at any time.