There has been a lot of activity at the Akron PTRC this past year. Our Director David Jennings retired the end of February this year. We are currently in the search process for his replacement.
In March we welcomed Alford Kindred and Cynthia Kelly from the Detroit Regional Patent Office for two informational programs. An afternoon program was geared toward patent attorneys and an evening program geared toward independent inventors. In November, we had our fifth Mini Make Faire which drew over 1000 people. The Akron Inventors Club, which we founded along with a local entrepreneur continues to draw a nice crowd to its monthly meetings, which feature a variety of speakers talking about some aspect of Inventing or IP. We continue to teach our monthly “Introduction to Patent Searching” and “Introduction to Intellectual Property” classes and attendance has been steady. We also feature a quarterly “Ask a Patent Attorney” program where patrons can make an appointment to meet one on one with a registered Patent Attorney. These are always hugely popular!
Staff wise, our Patent Team continues to be myself, Stephanie Jolliff and Michele McNeal. We have a new librarian, Lydsey Wasio who you will meet at Conference this year.