The Science & Technology department at the Akron-Summit County Public Library, home of the Akron PTDL, enjoyed a busy 2010. We serve a very diverse population, from university students to tinkering inventors and entrepreneurs to attorneys and engineers, as walk-in, phone or email patrons.
In celebration of our fifteenth year as a PTDL, we hosted our third InventaPalooza, an all-day event geared toward the independent inventor. Featured speakers were Louis Foreman, publisher of Inventor’s Digest and producer of Everyday Edisons, Michael Hydorn of the PTDLP office, and a local patent attorney. Our attendees were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet Mr. Foreman as well as someone from the patent office. The day ended with a great big birthday cake, complete with the PTDLP anniversary logo.
In addition to InventaPalooza, librarians Monique Mason and Curtis Bower presented 23 individual classes on patent or trademark searching or on general intellectual property. We also met with inventors groups throughout Northeast Ohio, talking about the benefits of the PTDL program to the independent inventor. Finally, 2010 saw the introduction of an entirely new program to our lineup – Ask-A-Patent-Attorney. Through the generous volunteering of a local patent attorney, we are able to offer the bi-monthly opportunity for independent inventors to pose their more esoteric questions to an expert. And for free!