Have you ever wondered …

… why you sometimes see more IPC and CPC symbols in Espacenet than on the original document?

When you compare the bibliographic data in Espacenet with those on the original document, you occasionally come across some differences in classification data according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) and the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) schemes. How is this possible? And what does it mean for your patent search?

Let’s take a closer look at the publication US20150113219A1. 

The original US document has been assigned the IPC symbol G06F12/08 and the CPC symbols G06F12/0802 and G06F2212/464. 

However, when you look at the Bibliographic data page in Espacenet, you will notice three additional IPC symbols: G06F3/06; G11B7/004 and G06F.  

There is also a discrepancy in the CPC symbols, with eight additional symbols being shown. 

The IPC scheme is revised each year, and the CPC scheme even more regularly, to cover new emerging technologies or relocate symbols to new and more suitable classification locations.  

To facilitate your searches, documents available in patent databases, such as those in Espacenet, are reclassified to reflect the changes resulting from these revisions. As a result, it is usually no longer necessary to use previous IPC versions for searches, as was the case before the major IPC reform of 2006. Caution is, however, required, given that reclassification can sometimes experience delays. Whether you need to search for old symbols is indicated in the IPC or CPC schemes by means of "warnings". When there are no warnings in the scheme, you can just rely on the new symbols. 

The reason why you may see more classification symbols on the Bibliographic data page in Espacenet than on the original document is that reclassification is performed at the family level, not at the individual document level. Therefore, all simple family members will be indexed with all reclassified symbols, and all these symbols will be displayed on the Bibliographic data page of each family member in Espacenet. If some classification symbols on an individual document did not require reclassification, you will still see these symbols at the individual level in addition to those shown for the other family members.  

Keywords: IPC, CPC, classification, patent family, Espacenet