SPE WEBINAR: Polymer Stabilization — Workshop Preview 

Summary

This workshop is intended as an introductory primer in patent law and practice for scientists, engineers and managers involved in business and technology. The workshop provides an overview of patent protection and trade secret protection. The workshop also covers the fundamentals of how to identify, and document an invention, search for patents related to the invention, and apply for a patent application. In particular, attendees will become familiar with the types of patent applications, patentability requirements, the parts of a patent application, and the prosecution process for getting a patent application allowed before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Attendees will also become familiar with foreign filing of patent applications, post grant patent options including mechanisms for challenging a U.S. patent before the USPTO, the various types of patent opinions and patent litigation. No prior knowledge of patent law is required.

About Speaker

Roger Avakian
Owner
Avakian PolyChem Consulting

Gary Wnek
Professor and Chair, Macromolecular Science and Engineering; Joseph F. Toot, Jr., Professor of Engineering
Case Western Reserve University

Roger Avakian was the Technical Director for over ten years at General Electric, Specialty Chemicals Division, which produced processing stabilizers, and formulated various stabilizer packages. Roger is also an inventor of several stabilizers. He also has over forty-seven years experience in polymers and additives.

Gary Wnek is the Joseph F. Toot, Jr., Professor of Engineering and Professor and Chair of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He was previously a faculty member in The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and the Department of Chemistry at RPI, and was the Founding Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University in its new School of Engineering. His research interests include processing of polymer multi-layer and polymer fiber/matrix composites, flammability mitigation of common polymers, fibrous polymers and gels for applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine, and synthetic macromolecular constructs that mimic physiological functions. He has authored or co-authored over 200 publications and holds 37 US patents. He received the 2007 John W. Hyatt Award (benefit to society) from the Society of Plastics Engineers for his work on polymer nano- and microfibers for regenerative medicine and related biomedical applications.

Gary earned his Ph.D. In Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1980, and his B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1977.