Atlanta, GA

The Georgia Tech Library has been undergoing a renewal process, which includes the construction of a new off-site Library Services Center (storage) shared with the Emory University Libraries to hold the majority of our print collections. We have been working with an outside consulting firm and architects to redesign the library services and space for a renewed 21st Century research library.

In the mist of all these on-going changes, Georgia Tech PTRC continued to offer daily one-on-one patent and trademark consultation/training to individual inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers and students. Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) that helps Georgia’s entrepreneurs launch and build transformative technology companies, referred many of their clients to us for patent search trainings. The Southeastern Inventors Association sent their members for patent consultation and training as well. With the Pro Bono Program just started running in the State of Georgia, we began to see inventors who were advised to contact us for a prior art search training. While a large number of patrons still come from the public, we have seen a steady increase in students who needs patent related assistance, from engineering, sciences, economics, business, public policy, architecture, and technology history areas. Faculty and students were referred to us from various invention related programs or events on campus, such as VentureLab, a nationally recognized program that helps researchers create startup companies based on their research results; InventurePrize, one of the largest undergraduate invention competitions; and capstone design classes in engineering schools.

To celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day, Georgia Tech PTRC prepared a window display of historical patent information in April, 2014.

In summer 2014, we added Derwent Innovation Index to our databases and offered training classes. Graduate students have started using this patent database in their research in addition to other databases we have access to.

In October, 2014, the First Inventor To File (FITF) Roadshow came to the Georgia Tech campus. We organized the event in collaboration with the Scheller College of Business. Over 100 people, mostly IP professionals, participated in the half-day sessions and had wonderful opportunities to talk to the USPTO experts and ask their questions to clarify issues associated with the FITF implementation. Ms. Janet Gongola, the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Director of the USPTO and her team did a wonderful job to engage the audience and provided valuable information.

We are working with the USPTO’s University Outreach Program to have a supervisory patent examiner come to the campus in late March, 2015 to teach intellectual property classes to engineering students. An open forum with the expert is also planned for the same week to involve more interested student groups on campus.