Almost a year ago I wrote on the Awapatent IP Blog about the efforts of the EPO and USPTO to harmonize their patent classification systems to form the Cooperative Patent Classification (in short CPC). The work is progressing, and it has now become time for an update.
The CPC is now taking shape, and it has become possible for users to familiarize themselves with the new classification scheme as the results this far have been made available by the EPO and the USPTO in what they have named a “CPC launch package”. The launch package includes the complete CPC scheme, the presently finalised CPC definitions and an ECLA-to-CPC-to-IPC concordance table. The launch package is available here.
The EPO and the USPTO explain that the CPC scheme for classifying patent documents according to the technological field of the invention is based on the latest version of the International Patent Classification (IPC) system. The CPC scheme will have sections A through H similar to the IPC as well as an additional brand new section Y including new technological developments and cross-sectional technologies.
There will be CPC definitions available for every CPC subclass and each definition will contain a description of the technical subject-matter covered in the subclass. The CPC definitions will be continuously maintained. Also, a CPC-to-IPC concordance table has been published to help users find the relevant part of the IPC on which the CPC is based.
The CPC is scheduled to be launched on 1 January 2013, and the Awapatent IP Blog will continue to monitor the development with interest to keep our readers updated.
Troels Peter Rørdam, European Patent Attorney & Certified Danish Patent Agent