Protecting Ideas: Patents & Trademarks for Your Startup
Protecting Ideas: Patents & Trademarks for Your Startup In-Person
Great ideas deserve protection. This workshop, led by our PTRC librarian, will walk you through the basics of patents and trademarks -- what they are, why they matter, and how to research them. It’s a practical starting point for any student who wants to safeguard their innovation.
Related LibGuide: Patents by Missy Murphey
- Date:
- Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- Time:
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- 170
- Library:
- John C. Hitt Library
- Audience:
- Graduate Students Undergraduate Students
- Categories:
- Academic Business Research Workshops Workshop/Conference
Monday-Friday appointments are scheduled via Zoom or in person. Tuesday appointments are held via Zoom only. If you need to meet outside of available appointment times, please email Rebecca.Murphey@ucf.edu.
Missy has been a librarian at the University of Central Florida Libraries since 2010. She is the representative for the Orlando Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC), which serves the intellectual property educational needs of people throughout north and central Florida, as well as the UCF community. She also provides collection management, research assistance (walk-up, Ask-a-librarian, and research consultations), library instruction, orientations, and outreach to the Anthropology and Psychology departments.
Her current research interests include library accessibility issues, Intellectual property, and subject librarian outreach to academic departments. She holds the Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama and B.A. degrees in Psychology and Mathematics from the University of Mississippi. Missy previously worked at the University of Mississippi Libraries, where she held various duties in reference and instruction, government documents, and the AICPA library service.
Missy is the primary librarian for these colleges/programs:
- Patents & Trademarks
- College of Sciences
- Psychology
- Anthropology
- College of Graduate Studies:
- Geographic Information Systems
and the secondary librarian for these programs:
- College of Sciences:
- Sociology
- Politics
As the Business Librarian at the University of Central Florida (UCF), Min Tong supports the research, teaching, and learning needs of students and faculty in the College of Business Administration (COBA). She provides in-depth research consultations, customized library instruction, and leads collection development in key subject areas, including Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Sport Business Management.
Min collaborates closely with faculty to integrate high-quality information resources into the curriculum and helps students build critical research literacy skills. Passionate about innovation and user-centered service, she actively explores new tools and technologies to enhance library support. Most recently, she developed the UCF Libraries Business Research Assistant, a custom GPT-based tool designed to promote research resources and answer common business information questions. This initiative reflects her commitment to expanding access and improving the user experience through emerging technologies.
Min holds a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from the University of British Columbia in Canada and a Master of Arts in Linguistics from Beijing Language and Culture University in China.