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Incidence sur les produits de l'OEB

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This section describes the EPO made to its products because of the IPC reform.

Patent documents  

The most obvious place where changes are evident is on the patent documents themselves. For European (EP) patent documents, this means:

• IPC classes are printed in two columns, in smaller type than before the IPC reform
• There is no distinction between “main classification” and “other classification”
• Classification symbols for “invention” information are printed in bold italics
• Classification symbols for “additional” information are printed in italics
• The applicable version of the IPC for each class is shown in brackets
  

European Publication Server 

It is possible to search the complete IPC on the European Publication Server as published on the patent document. There is no differentiation between classifications for invention and additional information. Only one single class can be retrieved and a combination between IPC classes using boolean operators is not possible.

EPO raw data  

EPO raw data forms the basis for many professional patent information products. It is used by database hosts and other commercial patent information providers, all of whom are dependent on it for their work. The EPO has already supplied them with test data containing records converted to the format that will be used after the IPC reform enters into force.

The regular updates to EPO raw data include the latest classifications given to patent documents and retain any earlier classifications allocated under versions 1 to 7 of the IPC. However, when the IPC is revised and documents receive a new classification they overwrite those in the IPC 8 field and it the old IPC 8 classifications are lost.

More detailed information on the forthcoming technical changes to raw data formats is available on the EPO website at:

Inpadoc newsflash (pdf)

esp@cenet ®

The following is a simple description of how the IPC8 affects esp@cenet users.

In esp@cenet the new IPC8 classifications can be:

• core level or advanced level
  and
• invention information or additional information - sometimes called "non-invention information".

IPC8 search in esp@cenet

The advanced search mask remains unchanged, that is to say the two separate fields of IPC and ECLA are retained.

Your search in IPC8 can be refined by means of search modifiers within the IPC search field. 

examples of the search syntax:

ci:G11B5/62
(an:G11B5/84 OR ic:G01J3/00 )

If no modifier is used the symbol will be searched across all IPC fields, pre and post IPC reform, so a user not familiar with the "multi flavour" format of IPC8 will be able to use the IPC field as before.

The possibility to search in ECLA remains

IPC8 esp@cenet search results and display

The IPC symbols will displayed in order according to the following priorities:

• Advanced level before core level,
• Invention information before additional information,
• IPC8 symbols will be displayed before IPC symbols from earlier versions (1-7),
• Old IPC symbols (versions 1-7) will be displayed in normal font, and prefixed with the label "(IPC1-7)".
  

Worth remembering:

• The new IPC8 search possibilities in esp@cenet are a way of limiting or focussing your search.
• You can still search IPC as before, if you don't use any search modifiers.
• You can still search ECLA independently of IPC
• You are still limited to four search terms per field and the only allowable Boolean operators are: AND OR NOT.
  

ESPACE CD-ROMs and MIMOSA retrieval software

MIMOSA has been extended to include four new search fields::

• IPC advanced invention information (where available)
• IPC advanced additional information (where available)
• IPC core invention information
• IPC core additional information

There is also a "super index" combining the classification symbols assigned under old IPC versions with the new symbols.

For databases like ESPACE ACCESS, the backlog has been updated to incorporate the new symbols. For other series, for example BULLETIN, LEGAL, FIRST or any of the full text series, the backlog data will not be updated since this would mean having to reprocess and republish thousands of discs.

Register Plus

The European Patent Register (and the European Patent Bulletin) carry the IPC information that is printed on the original patent application. If later publications (eg the search report or the granted patent) carry different IPCs to the first publication, the Register data is updated, but the “old” classification is maintained in the database under “history”. This will continue to be the practice in future. However, IPC classes will not be amended in the Register if the patent document in question is reclassified at a later date following the publication of a new version of the IPC.

Open Patent Services

Currently, retrieval of documents on OPS is by publication number only, so the IPC reform will not cause any changes for search purposes. The data that is returned from the search includes any classifications allocated under IPC versions 1 to 7, as well as any new IPCs resulting from the reform. The data also indicates where a classification is core, advanced, invention information, or additional information.