Speaker for the August 6th Meeting: Eileen Fischlschweiger
Field Trip
One of the most important skills that every inventor needs is to be able to do their own patent searches. This is where every project begins and there are a number of reasons for this. First, you need to be aware of the state of the art and your competition. Let’s face it, if you are working in telecommunications and the last research you did in the field was 5 years ago, You’re a Dinosaur!
The whole reason the government gives you a patent to exclude others from making, using or selling your claimed invention with a 20 year patent term (measured from the application date but beginning with the grant date) is because you disclosed the technology in your patent so others can improve on it. Using that logic another patent can inspire you to make a huge advancement in the field with a new or improved version of your original idea.
There are tons of other reasons but where can you learn this vital skill? At the Broward County Library on August 6th and from one of the most knowledgeable experts that I know.
Eileen Fischlschweiger, Librarian, Senior at the Broward County Main Library, is the Patent and Trademark Resource Center’s Representative Librarian for the Fort Lauderdale PTRC. As such, she is the library’s liaison with the US Patent and Trademark Office, and she has been working with patent and trademark information for over 20 years, starting shortly before they implemented the Provisional Patent Application, and she has been on top of every change that has happen since then, thanks to annual training from the USPTO at their campus in the Washington, DC area.
She will be teaching us the new 7 Step Strategy which has been revised to incorporate the new Cooperative Patent Classification system. As many of you already know, the USPTO has been revising everything in order to harmonize with the rest of the world’s patent offices. Over all, this may be a good thing but for those of us who are already familiar with the old system this is a nightmare. Be that as it may, we need to learn the new system or give up and I don’t have quitters in my group. To help you understand the new 7 Step Strategy Eileen recommends that everyone view the USPTO’s computer based training as pre-lecture homework. It can be found at How to Conduct a Preliminary U.S. Patent Search: A Step by Step Strategy – Web Based Tutorial (39 minutes, 14 seconds; link: http://www.uspto.gov/video/cbt/ptrcsearching/). There’s sound, so the computer speakers need to be turned on.
After her lecture, Eileen will take us on a tour of the Creation Station where you can get access to 3D printers for your prototypes, the new Creation Station Business facilities (targeted to open in September 2016) which can help you start your own business, and The Studio (for Teens) which is another new program to encourage teens with an interest in audio and visual arts.
All this and more is Yours for the taking. Just show up a little before 1:00pm. The lecture will be in the Bienes Museum Ceremonial room on the 6th floor of the Broward County Main Library, 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 (there is a pay parking lot just east of the building with a bridge to the library). Hope to see you there.
For more information go to our website www.inventorssociety.net or call 561-676-5677.
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