WELCOME TO BPIP

British Patent Information Professionals Group

British Patent Information Professionals (BPIP) group is an informal group of UK-based representatives of organisations which have overlapping interests in patent information matters. Started in 1990 as the Derwent UK User Group, and later the Thomson Scientific User Group (TSUG), we have developed into an organisation of professionals who use a range of vendor products and services and have similar professional interests and concerns.

Members meet annually to discuss patent information-related issues, share searching tips and give feedback from patent information meetings. Presentations and updates from patent information vendors and other experts provide an opportunity to deepen professional expertise. As a result of the shared experiences and discussions, the group can deliver consensus opinion to patent information providers and patent offices. Patent information providers may be invited to attend part of the meetings to address particular issues raised.

There are no membership fees, however, membership is limited to patent and information searchers (no patent information vendors are members).

Meetings are held once a year, usually hosted by one of the member companies, and coordinated on a voluntary basis by members of the group. Each attending group member is responsible for their own travel and accommodation.

Organisations currently represented include, but are not limited to: AstraZeneca, BP, Cambridge Display Technology, Extract Information, Foseco, GSK, Innovia Films, Johnson Matthey, Kraft Foods, Magister, Patent Search & Information Management Limited, Perquisitum, Pfizer, Pilkington Group, Proctor & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Shell, Sony Europe Ltd, UCB, UK IPO, Unilever, and World Patent Information.

Chairperson: Nathan Pennington, Freelance Patent Analyst

Secretary: Jeanette Eldridge