I am working with independent inventors primarily by phone and email, assisting them in locating several relevant patents in Google Patents and then searching the related CPC and U.S. classifications using the patent databases at USPTO.
We hosted a program with the USPTO Regional Office in Dallas and the Tulsa City Library in May of 2018, Patents and Trademarks Explained and have been holding the Meet the Experts series at the Technology Center in Stillwater. I teach a class each semester through our digital badge program throught the graduate college, Patents Online: Discover Trends in Research and Development, to encourage graduate students and faculty to consider and use patents as a tool for research, similar to journal articles. I provide a seminar on trademarks for the Food and Agricultural Products Center on campus.
Our PTRC continues to play a support role to other IP departments on campus and locally in addition to working with students, faculty, and independent inventors.