The Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program (PTRCP) Goes Hollywood!
(News from the PTRCP)
After a milestone 35th anniversary training seminar, the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program decided to go a little “Hollywood”. This year the PTRCP office has ventured into producing, premieres, pilots, and more!
Last summer the PTRCP office produced a series of webinars, expanding support services to the PTRCS. June 20, 2013 marked the premiere of the first webcast “Introduction to PubWEST”. It was well-received by the library audiences, leading to the following three productions: “Foreign Patents” held in July; “SEAS and Plant Patents” held in August; and, the blockbuster “SEAS Access to PubWEST and PubEAST” that was released in September. Stay tuned for more webinars in summer 2014!
Red carpets were rolled out for the premieres of three new Patent and Trademark Resource Centers. PTRCP staff participated in grand openings held at the Arizona State Library in Phoenix (10-9-2013), Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan (11-6-2013), and braved winter weather to be a part of the opening at Northern Kentucky University’s W. Frank Steely Library in Highland Heights, Kentucky (12-5-2013). These three new additions to the program will provide patent and trademark services to remote and underserved areas of the country.
On December 13, 2013 a new release of the San Diego PTRC was featured in the city’s new $200 million Central Library Facility (an epic 20 year project). The event was celebrated with an all-day public program on patent and trademark searching offered by the PTRC staff.
Responding to PTRC requests to have PubEAST available at their libraries, the USPTO piloted a limited-release of the public examiner based search system to the following PTRCs for audience testing: Akron-Summit County Public Library, Akron, OH; New York State Library, Albany, NY; Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY; Engineering and Physical Sciences Library, University of Maryland College Park, MD; Detroit Public Library, Detroit, MI; Broward County Main Library, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX; Minneapolis Central, Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis, MN; Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA. After a successful “limited screening”, PubEAST was released PTRC-wide for customer access in late summer.
Another bonus feature, resulting from audience feedback, was the release of PatFT/AppFT full document download and pdf images on the USPTO website. The feature was test-marketed to nine volunteer PTRC representatives from the following libraries: Akron-Summit County Public Library, Akron, OH; Dunbar Library, Wright State University, Dayton, OH; Broward County Main Library, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX; Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, MO; Malpass Library, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL; Minneapolis Central Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis, MN; San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA; Low Library, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK. This bonus feature received rave reviews from audiences everywhere! 
The program office’s successes have only been accomplished because of the assistance of the PTRCs. Each of you is deserving of an Oscar for your hard work, dedication, and energy in promoting intellectual property in your communities. Thank you to each and every one of you for your commitment. I am looking forward to seeing you all here for our March production set against the background of our Nation’s Capital and over 3,000 blooming cherry trees!
~Chris