PORTLAND – A seminar titled “Intellectual Property Strategy & Technology Commercialization” will be offered from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the University of Maine School of Law, 246 Deering Ave., in the first-floor moot court room.

The featured speakers are Tom Maas, Ph.D., of the Maine Patent Program, and Meriby Sweet of the Maine Small Business & Technology Development Center.

The Patent Program and the Small Business & Technology Center are presenting the seminar. It will provide inventors and businesses with education and advice on the basics of patent rights and protections, as well as the types of inventions that are subject to patent protection. It also will cover the steps to obtain a patent and how to perform searches on an invention. The speakers will also discuss the relationship between intellectual property protection and a commercialization strategy.

Maas is a registered patent agent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. His experience includes laboratory careers with IBM, Exxon and Amoco developing technology that resulted in the issuance of numerous patents.

Sweet has more than 20 years’ experience in technology ventures, including hardware, e-commerce, software and biotech.

The seminar is free and open to the public, but advance registration is recommended. People may register by sending e-mail to [email protected] and indicating “Register for January 12 seminar” in the subject line, or by calling (207) 874-6521. More information may be obtained at www.mainepatent.org and clicking on “events.”