At one of the most important conferences in the patent field, PATINFO, international technical experts learned about the latest developments in the field of industrial property rights. In particular, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for patent searches led to stimulating discussions.
Patents, trademarks, designs - the TU Ilmenau's colloquium on patent information and industrial property protection, PATINFO2023 for short, is one of the most important conferences in this field in Europe. Under the motto "IP information as a raw material for tomorrow's economy", nearly 300 experts from research and industry, patent offices, law firms and from the information industry exchanged technical information in many personal conversations and discussions. The guests came from Australia, South Korea, USA, Sweden and Finland, among others.
The new President of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), Eva Schewior, who has only been in office since February 2023, a representative of the European Patent Office and the responsible staff member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for Green Tech actively contributed their contributions as representatives of the offices and answered the questions of the participants.
Other presentations revolved around aspects such as "Protectability and market potential," " Are the creative or technical ideas sustainable?", "What techniques can we use to identify and evaluate IP applications?", "What is raw material for tomorrow's economy, what is rather ballast?" and "What new tools and sources help us to clarify these questions, where is there still potential to be leveraged?"
Especially the possible use of AI for patent research and further processing of the results led to stimulating discussions.
A lively, exceptional presentation by patent attorney Dr. Renate Weisse highlighted the topic of "#sevenpercent," exploring the question of why so few women - only in 7 percent of patent applications at the DPMA - are inventors. Many universal "barriers" to reporting ideas in the company were also identified. In the accompanying exhibition and in a series of short presentations, software providers and information service providers presented their latest developments. A program of 19 free workshops rounded off the event.
The 45th Colloquium of TU Ilmenau on Patent Information and Industrial Property Protection, PATINFO2023 was organized by the State Patent Center of Thuringia (PATON). Sabine Milde, staff member of PATON, draws a positive balance:
PATINFO 2023 was again the ideal forum for the exchange of experience between public, private and commercial providers and users in the field of patents, trademarks and designs. We would like to thank the TU Ilmenau and the city of Ilmenau for their great support.
The conference takes place annually in Ilmenau (Thuringia) with about 250 to 350 participants from industry, the legal profession, patent offices and scientific institutions. It has quite a long tradition (since 1962) and is considered by the European and the German Patent Office as one of the most important events for patent information experts. PATINFO2024 will take place from June 5 to 7, 2024 under the motto "Protection against product piracy: why patents, trademarks and design are indispensable".
Impressions of the PATINFO2023
Contact
Sabine Milde
PATON – Landespatentzentrum Thüringen