We are pleased to announce the call for papers and proposals for panel discussions for the PIUG 2016 Annual Conference to be held May 21-26, 2016, at the Hilton Vancouver Washington in Vancouver, Washington State, USA. The theme for this 18th Annual Conference is:

Patent Information: Our Continuing Quest for Quality

Please submit your abstracts to Heather Simmons by email at hsimmons at illinois dot edu.

We are particularly interested in presentations from patent information users working in-house or as external providers; patent offices; IP law firms; universities; and others who are able to discuss one of the following topics, with a focus on the definition, enhancement, measurement, and/or critical importance of quality in patent information:

Search basics – fundamental to getting it right down the line, including:
Techniques and tips in a variety of circumstances and disciplines
Lessons learned and real life stories from the field

Searcher communication and relationships - talking before searching with various clients in a variety of settings to achieve high-quality results:
Attorneys (in-house and outside)
Inventors
Management and workers at corporations
Consultants
Not-for-profit organization staff
Academics
Government workers
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Law Librarians
Legal Assistants
Patent assertion entities (PAEs)
Differences working with worldwide practices

Searching and analysis in support of different business activities and decision making: focusing on why the search has been requested
Patenting - how a search fits into the strategy, timing, countries, staffing and focus
Freedom to Operate (FTO) - determining how a search relates to the overall strategy, identification of competition, developing proper profiles for searching
Invalidation - using searches as a tool in light of most recent court decisions and changes to the law
Opposition
Infringement
Research and Development - how searchers keep researchers informed, integrate with staff
Mergers and Acquisitions - identification of targets and analysis of background information
Due Diligence - keeping up to date with changes in the law
Ownership investigation - what to do when the obvious suspects do not own the IP
Licensing - identification and qualification of target patents and also candidates to be approached
Litigation - protecting intellectual property
Technology transfer
Competitive analysis
Monetization

Intelligent presentation of search results: What works best for your particular client?
Communication - how best to present complex issues or lengthy results
Adding value - whether to add opinions and how to do so
Prioritization - resorting the order of output
Narrowing
Optimization
Visualization

Patent Licensing - presentations on methods and tools used to identify licensing partners, including starting portfolio evaluation, steps in finding potential licensing candidates and the criteria and strategy used to make a final choice.

Efficiency Measures - presentations on achieving quality in an IP research department or business, adaptation of automated or semi-automated mining tools or processes to increase efficiency, using text mining in early evaluations.

Patent Analysis Studies - "real life" examples of applying analysis and visualization tools to provide knowledge insight, including specific strategies used to arrive at useful conclusions.

Quality Initiatives - presentations relating to quality improvements through innovations in patent searching, patent application or other processes.

Dealing with Database Errors and Inconsistencies - Novel methods, including artificial intelligence, to handle the inevitable mistakes, errors, translation and transliteration issues that occur in patent information databases.

Professional Development and Career Paths - Criteria for education, training, credentials, metrics, and work experience in hiring, nurturing, retaining, and compensating top-quality patent information professionals.

Updates from Patent Authorities - presentations by national, regional or international patent authorities regarding developments or proposed changes to patent application procedure, online patent publication databases or patent examination practices that are focused on improvements to patent quality. Presentations from patent office staff as well as others having practical knowledge of these developments are invited.

If any of the above or related themes fall into your area of expertise then we would like to hear from you!

If you would be interested in the question of certification for patent searchers, we invite you to consider participating in a panel discussion on the Certification of Patent Information Professionals. Please email hsimmons at illinois dot edu to indicate your interest.

If you would be interested in participating in a panel discussion on initiatives or efforts to measure patent quality, or any aspect of improving patent quality in the searching or application process, please email hsimmons at illinois dot edu to indicate your interest.

Please send your presentation title, abstract, proposed speaker name, company name, brief biography and full contact information to hsimmons at illinois dot edu on or before Friday, December 18, 2015 for full consideration.

If you think you may be interested in speaking but require management approval beforehand, please let us know so that we can begin to consider your general proposal for a paper in the meantime (submission of just a few descriptive sentences will be sufficient).

Presentations will need to be provided to the Program Committee prior to the Annual Conference for review (by April 15, 2015) and feedback before being loaded into the presentation system.

The organizers reserve the right to accept abstracts at their discretion in order to assemble the best possible program. Invited speakers may take precedence over other speakers. Please be advised that your abstract submission may be published on the internet or elsewhere, shortly after receipt or at any time thereafter. Therefore, do not include confidential or business-sensitive information in your abstract.

If you would like to recommend a speaker on a particular topic or suggest another topic of interest, do not hesitate to contact Heather Simmons (hsimmons at illinois dot edu) with your ideas.

Further news about the program and updates regarding the conference will be posted on the PIUG Discussion Forum (PIUG-DF) and on the PIUG web site.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to seeing you at the PIUG 2016 Annual Conference!

Heather Simmons and Ron Kaminecki - Co-Chairs, Program Committee

Kartar Arora, Andrea Davis, Dominic DeMarco, Zhifu Shu - Members, Program Committee

Ken Koubek and Elliott Linder - Co-Chairs, Planning Committee