Are you interested in IP, Patents, and Trademarks? Join us for an informative workshop series!
This is a series of four workshops on Intellectual Property. Please see the class descriptions below: Workshop Schedule
February 27, 2023: Intellectual Property Basics
March 6, 2023: Patent Searching Part I
March 13, 2023: Trademark Searching
March 20, 2023: Patent Searching Part II
Class 1: Intellectual Property Basics – February 27, 2023
Are you an inventor or entrepreneur unfamiliar with intellectual property rights? Wondering how to protect your brand or invention? Not sure what protections exist? Come to this course and learn about the basics of intellectual property, or IP, in the US. There are four protected categories of IP, and all have different regulations, purposes, terms of length, and administrative bodies.
This course provides an overview of each type–patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets; a discussion of why innovators and entrepreneurs should consider protecting their IP ; and some of the resources and assistance available through the various government agencies and administrations. Class 2: Patent Searching Part I – March 6, 2023
Inventors and entrepreneurs need to know how to search for and find previously patented inventions before they apply for patents or approach a patent attorney. But why pay someone to perform the same search if you can do it for free? Unfortunately, the patenting offices of the world don’t make it easy. Even those who are great at using Google should learn how to use the official tools, and build stronger search strategies. This first class focuses on how to build a patent searching strategy in the USPTO’s Patent Public Search, their free searching tool for all types of patents filed in the U.S. since 1790. Students will learn about pre-search brainstorming techniques, navigating and customizing the Patent Public Search interface, and some advanced searching skills.
The course is interactive, so all attendees will need an internet-accessible laptop computer or a tablet with Google Chrome, Firefox, or another internet browser, except Safari. Attendees should also have a basic mastery of keyboard and mouse skills and some familiarity with internet browsing and searching to best appreciate and benefit from the course. It is recommended that students first attend an intellectual property basics course.
This patent searching class is a prerequisite for the second; students MUST attend Part I for Part II to make sense. Class 3: Trademark Searching – March 13, 2023
Small business owners and entrepreneurs need to know how to protect their brands and other intellectual property, and using trademarks are among the most critical methods. But before applying for or claiming a trademark, you have to know what already exists, which means you have to know how to search for trademarks.
This class focuses on searching for trademarks using the free Trademark Electronic Search System (or TESS) from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Learn how to develop a search that starts in the basic mode and builds up to complex queries in the free-form advanced search option . In addition, students will learn universal searching skills like Booleans and wildcards and techniques specific to TESS, like design code and trademark field-specific searches. The course is interactive, so all attendees will need an internet-accessible laptop computer or a tablet with an internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.). Attendees should also have basic mastery of keyboard and mouse skills, and some familiarity with internet browsing and searching to best appreciate and benefit from the course. It is recommended that students first attend an intellectual property basics course. Class 4: Patent Searching Part II – March 20, 2023
After you’ve mastered keyword-based searching in Patent Public Search, it’s time to learn about some of the more advanced tools! This class allows inventors and entrepreneurs to build on what they’ve already learned, incorporating new search skills and tools in Patent Public Search and taking on new search applications. Cast a wider net and start searching internationally with Espacenet or Lens.org. Ensure you have all the information you need for a smoother path to obtaining a patent.
The second patent searching class builds on skills from the first, introducing more advanced functions in Patent Public Search and new techniques like proximity operators. Espacenet, from the European Patent Office, is introduced along with Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) numbers and how to build a search based on CPC numbers instead of keywords. The course is interactive, so all attendees will need an internet-accessible laptop computer or a tablet with Google Chrome, Firefox, or another internet browser, except Safari. Attendees should also have basic mastery of keyboard and mouse skills, and some familiarity with internet browsing and searching to best appreciate and benefit from the course. All students MUST first take Patent Searching, Part I.
About the Speaker
Hannah Edlund (she/her) is the Government Information Librarian and the Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) representative at Rice University’s Fondren Library. She has been extensively trained by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s PTRC Program on intellectual property and searching patents and trademarks. Hannah earned her MLIS from University of Washington, but stayed a Houstonian and returned to Rice, her undergraduate alma mater.
Contact her for all your intellectual property information and training needs at [email protected]
Parking Instructions
Visitor Parking Lot : Enter 4200 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to the visitor parking lot, located in front of the Ion building.Overflow Parking Instructions: Enter 4203 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to this parking lot, located across the street from the Ion building.
