User:AvionHerbert/Patent classifications outlined phenomena
See particular observations made on User:Econterms/Patent classifications discussion as well as comparitive overview material gathering on Patent classification systems.
- Classifications contemporaneously applied
- These are overwhelmingly national, and in some cases more than others we see the national systems in their evolving process. The Netherlands presents a unique case, perhaps, in this regard, in that its national protocol, having begun late, benefits from the processes already evolved, and perhaps awkwardly evolved, in the other nations. It presently seems at least that all aero material falls under Klasse NL 62 but that each individual patent will actually bear a further sub-classification, also numeric, the "Groep" into which it falls. This at least presently seems unusually tidy, with the integer 62 covering aviation and other aeronautics, and with this Klasse being subdivided into Groeps on a decimal basis.
- In the nature of things, these systems are analogue in their beginnings, as opposed to digital.
- There are national systems greatly influenced by, and sometimes viably and verifiably "based upon", other systems.
- We are usually dealing with classes, and groups, articulated and further articulated, whether elegantly or not, by way of combined number- and letter-based systems, with descriptive classification meanings often shown on patent originals and often indexed within catalogues. (Cuban patent classifications, as pertaining to our years of primary interest, may have been more "purely descriptive", that is, lacking in any abstract codification based on numbers and letters. We'll have more on that shortly.)
- This can get complicated, with judgement calls having been made. A propeller, for instance, may be absolutely (the not exclusively) applicable to aviation. Semantics get involved.
- Classifications retroactively applied
- In the nature of things, these systems seem to be digital, "virtual", at least generally, in their beginnings and in their application.
- These are largely, though not exclusively, international. US and NL are notable exceptions, though this retroactive application of classifications seems to function primarily within national or nationally-oriented websites.
- The Netherlands again presents an odd case. All material of interest to to us, it seems, falls within the broadly aero-category NL 62(Klasse) (though each patent will have a subcategorized patent (Klasse.Groep) classification, in the original). Digitally, virtually, NL 62 is applied retroactively, within the Dutch database. This serves as a loose interface with IPC protocols. It is also a perhaps unique case of an a posteriori application of a broad, and national, and historically-based, classification, to patents otherwise further subcategorized.
- Complications involve judgement calls, similar to those articulated above regarding classifications contemporaneously applied. We've seen IPC and CPC classifications, displayed within Espacenet, change over time, perhaps related to these sorts of judgement calls. We also see nations participating, to varying degrees, or not not participating, within Espacenet. That is, an individual patent could hypothetically and viably fall under some particular patent classification, but the patent, or all the patents of its nation, might not be on Espacenet, or it may simply not have been classified, at least within the data at our disposal.
