IPC
The International Patent Classification (IPC) system is a broadly used standard for classifies technologies of patents from any country.
The first version of the IPC system, called simply the International Classification, went into effect in 1968, and it continues to be revised.[1] Another article says it dates from 1971.[2]
One source says that by the Strasbourg agreement, aka the IPC agreement, over 60 patent offices classify patent documents into IPC categories:[3][4] Although the IPC lists more than 60,000 classes, a search within a much frequented class is seldom successful since such a search would retrieve—even on the lowest level of IPC hierarchy—thousands of matches. The European Classification (ECLA) system used by the European Patent Office represents [an] expansion of the IPC system by [adding] over 70,000 [narrower] subclasses. . . . David T. Dickens (1994) summarized the merits of the ECLA system . . . : “[ECLA] codes are more specific than the IPC [and] are continuously revised to reflect new technology with previously ECLA classified documents updated as well. . . . "
see historicip.com/ipc
According to one source, WIPO is the source: "IPC stands for International Patent Classification. It is a 12-digit contents-based classification system produced by WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) and adopted by the EPO as the key tool for classifying patents according to the technological field they address."[5]
References
- ↑ International Patent Classification article on English Wikipedia
- ↑ https://www.upcounsel.com/classification-of-patents
- ↑ Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification
- ↑ Mechtild Stock; Wolfgang G. Stock. 2006. Intellectual Property Information: A Comparative Analysis of Main Information Providers. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST). 57:13. pp. 1794–1803. doi=10.1002/asi.20498
- ↑ Antonio Della Malva, Francesco Lissoni & Patrick Llerena. 2013. Institutional change and academic patenting: French universities and the Innovation Act of 1999. Journal of Evolutionary Economics 23, p211–239, footnote 11
| Enclosing categories | Patent category systems |
|---|---|
| Subcategories | IPC B64 |
| Keywords | |
| Start year | |
| End year |
