Montagu Hyams – First Ever Recipient of the IPI Award
(Source: Patent Information
Users Group Newsletter, May 2000)
Mr. Montagu
Hyams, entrepreneur and founder of Derwent Information, is to be honored as the
first ever recipient of the 'International Patent Information (IPI)
Award'.
The news was
heard by almost 240 information professionals attending a luncheon at the
Patent Information Users Group (PIUG) Annual Conference in Arlington, Virginia
on May 2nd, 2000. Mr.
Jeffrey Forman, Information Services Manager of Intellectual Property Law, IBM,
and representative of the international Selection Board responsible for
reviewing the nominations, praised the achievements of Mr. Hyams and his unique
vision in shaping patent retrieval systems.
President of the PIUG, Sandra Unger, the other U.S. member of the
Selection Board, was also present to listen to the live telephone connection
that linked Mr. Hyams with the conference from his London home. Good wishes were expressed to him personally
by Stu Kaback and Edlyn Simmons, who spoke of the fundamental significance of
the accomplishments of Mr. Hyams in evolving the role of the patent information
professional.
Mr. Hyams was
born in 1918 and, after qualifying as a chemist, served for a few years as a
patent agent's assistant. In 1951 he
left to start up on his own, publishing British Patents Report from his house
in London called Derwent. The first
real breakthrough was in 1955 with Belgian Patents Report. Following a move to larger premises, a
number of patent documentation services were then started, culminating in the
Derwent flagship 'World Patents Index', established in 1974 as a fully indexed
online database. This is today one of the world's largest value-added patent
resources. Mr. Hyams eventually sold Derwent
to Thomson, but remains its Life President.
Since 1985 he has been producing new publications from the ASLIB offices
in London, including 'Index to Theses', the UK equivalent to 'Dissertation
Abstracts'. At age 82, twice a week on
average, he travels to London by underground train, assiduously proof-reading
on the way.
Monty Hyams says: "I am naturally very honored to be the
first recipient of the International Patent Information Award, which is a
tribute not only to me personally, but also to all those at Derwent who helped
to develop the company into the world leader in patent documentation service
provision."
The IPI Award adds to the other accolades previously awarded
to Mr. Hyams, namely the ACS Herman Skolnik Award and the NFAIS Miles Conrad
Award.
The IPI Award
is sponsored by Technology & Patent Research (TPR) International Inc., and
is directed by a Board of eminent patent information industry professionals
representing Europe, the United States and Japan. Ford Khorsandian, President of TPR, made the introductory speech
at the luncheon and explained that the IPI Award is aimed at recognizing
individual contributions towards the advancement of patent information, the
patent information profession, and to the patent world in general.
The IPI
Award, consisting of a plaque and an honorarium of $2500, will be presented to
Mr. Hyams by the Chairman of the Selection Board, Dr. Ian Sinclair, Head of
Information Resources, Pfizer, UK, at a ceremony to be held in Europe later
this year.
From its base in San Diego, California, TPR International specializes in in-depth researching of both patent and non-patent information, searching of document collections held worldwide, and provides patent intelligence services to multi-national R&D based corporations and patent law firms.
Click here for
details of the 2000 IPI Award Presentation Ceremony to Monty Hyams and speech
transcripts of the event.
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