The Highland Heights PTRC at NKU’s Steely Library is part of the IPAC (Intellectual Property Awareness Center) which includes government and business resources too. The highpoint of the year was collaborating with the Northern Kentucky International Trade Association (NKITA) to present the workshop entitled “Assisting U.S. Rights Holders & Protecting Their IP in China.” Forty business professionals attended the event held at the NKY Chamber of Commerce in Ft. Mitchell, KY on July 24, 2018. Attendees learned about the differences between Chinese and U.S. IP law, the USPTO IP Attaché program, intellectual property enforcement challenges in China, and local resources for businesses. Conrad Wong from the USPTO’s Office of Policy & International Affairs spoke about “Assisting U.S. Rights Holders in Protecting Their Intellectual Property in China.” While Dara Kendall from Procter & Gamble Legal Department presented information on “IP in China through P&G’s Lens.” Other associated speakers are displayed in the photograph here with their names and titles.
[Photo caption — China IP workshop contributors (left to right): John Schlipp, Intellectual Property Librarian at NKU’s Steely Library; James O. Wilson Assistant Regional Director: Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office; Leo Chan, President of the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce; Qian Sheng (“Kelly”), Office of Policy and International Affairs, U. S. Patent & Trademark Office; Dara M. Kendall, Associate Director & Associate General Counsel, Procter & Gamble Company; and Conrad W. Wong, Attorney-Advisor China Division, Office of Policy & International Affairs, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Photo courtesy of Debby Shipp, Vice President International Affairs & Business Growth, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky.]
In addition, John Schlipp, PTRC representative taught the LIN405 Intellectual Property & Information Rights course https://onlinedegrees.nku.edu/faculty.aspx during two semesters for the Bachelor’s Degree in Library Informatics at NKU. John also served as judge at the First Filament Inventors Award of Inventors Council of Cincinnati on April 3, 2018.
One of our more popular IP topics for campus and community was our presentation on Fashion and Sports Branding including patents and trademarks related to wearable technology, athletic footwear, questionable team logos and mascots, athlete publicity rights, sports broadcasting copyright, and so forth. The trademark-related content presented is related to a new chapter in John’s newly written textbook about intellectual property for ABC Clio/Libraries Unlimited forthcoming in autumn 2019. See more details at https://products.abc-clio.com/abc-cliocorporate/product.aspx?pc=A6068P.
In addition to John, the IPAC team consisted of Phil Yannarella, Government Documents Librarian, and Marcia Johnson, Library Specialist. The IPAC instructed multiple campus and community inventors and entrepreneurs on how to search for patents. There were multiple small business start-up trademark searching sessions too. What’s more, the IPAC encountered more genealogy patent searching inquires this year.
Recent IP consultations for student and community inventors included the following nonspecific subject disciplines (to avoid public disclose to protect customers’ new products or services): new mobile device apps or computer software; health innovations; home and garden appliances; improvements in solar technology and recycling techniques; new food services and innovations related to baking and agricultural produce distribution; consumer-to-consumer, and business-to-business online trade communication tools; improvement in computer peripheral devices; and virtual display merchandising technology improvements for public exhibits.
The IPAC also supported customers on copyright and fair use, licensing and contracts, and open access questions from both campus and community customers. As always, it is rewarding to refer our customers to other like-minded community partners such as the Inventors Council of Cincinnati, or the NKU Small Business Development Center. We are looking forward to another year of assisting inventors, entrepreneurs, and business start-ups with their IP awareness needs.