All about patents

For the 3rd session of S523-Science and Technology Information-we got an education on patents.  Ron Kaminecki who works for ProQuest Dialog drove down from Chicago gave a surprisingly engaging presentation on what could be an otherwise dry topic.  He described the details of a patent and the difference between a patent and a patent application, listed the most typical and common research questions associated with patents, and educated us on the convoluted aspects of patent law and the application process.  In the tightly packed three hours we learned that by finding certain numbers on foreign language patents, most of which are in Japanese, you can find the English translation without having to pay someone to translate it.  Ron shared many tidbits and trivia from his years of experience such as patents are always issued on a Tuesday, if the patent date isn't a Tuesday, then it isn't a patent. We had fun writing a patent claim for a sandwhich in legalese trying to make it as broad as possible with bread being the "glutenaeceous" layer  and the meat being the "proteinaeceous" layer.  Knowing how to find patent information is a marketable skill especially since 80% of information in patents is not located elsewhere.  Perhaps being a patent librarian is in your future!  Probably not mine, but Ron certainly made patents interesting and even exciting.  I will see if it is possible to post his presentation if I can get permission.