Start using the new Cooperative Patent Classification on Dialog

January 2013 marks the start of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), the new patent classification system that will replace the current European Patent Office and U.S. national classification systems.

Patent data from the USPTO and the main bibliographic file (DOCDB) from the EPO will contain the new classification in addition to the International Patent Classification (IPC). ECLA, the EPO’s own classification system, will be replaced by CPC from 2013, while the US Patent Classification (USPC) will be gradually phased out and replaced by CPC by 2015. Over time, the CPC will be adopted globally across patent offices and will improve patent prior art searching.

CPC codes
CPC is based mostly on the EPO’s ECLA (European Classification) & ICO (In-computer only) coding systems giving a total of approximately 251,000 codes. This is far more comprehensive than the current ECLA, IPC or USPC systems and so will be more detailed.

Searching CPC on Dialog
The CPC classes will begin appearing in INPADOC (File 345) and Chinese Patents Fulltext (File 325) in January 2013, but will be delayed in DWPI (Files 350, 351 and 352) until mid-March 2013. The search prefix for CPC codes is CP=. The accompanying attributes are searchable using CA= and can be linked to a particular CPC code using the (S) operator, e.g, S CP= A01F-0015/0833(S)CA=I.
CPC codes are very similar to IPC codes, and the attributes are essentially the same with one exception. The non–inventive PC attribute (IA=N) has been replaced by the additional attribute (CA=A) The following extract from PN=PL 2248412 in INPADOC illustrates the structural similarities between CPC, IPC and ECLA codes.

  ECLA: A01F-015/07; A01F-015/08C1; K01F-015:07F; K01F-015:07G

  IPC + Level Value Position Status Version Action Source Office

  Orig adv : A01F-0015/07 A I L B 20060101 20111222 H PL

  Orig adv : A01F-0015/08 A I F B 20060101 20111222 H PL

  CPC + Value Position Status Version Action Source Office

  A01F-0015/07 I B 20130101 20130101 H EP

  A01F-0015/0833 I B 20130101 20130101 H EP

  A01F-2015/077 A B 20130101 20130101 H EP

  A01F-2015/0775 A B 20130101 20130101 H EP

Impact of CPC changes on Alerts in DWPI
On initial release the CPC codes will map onto existing ECLA and /or ICO codes, but from April 1, 2013, the CPC system will commence a process of monthly updates at which point the systems will begin to diverge. Users will need to keep track of revisions in their field of interest (in particular rapidly-evolving technology areas) to ensure that searches and Alerting strategies still work. When using CPC remember to monitor your alert results for any sudden fall off in the number of hits as this could indicate a reclassification has affected your search.

Once regular CPC revisions start, DWPI records will include the original, as well as the most up-to-date CPC codes for searching. The ECLA, ICO, and USPC data for existing patents in the databases will be retained.

As CPC is simply a replacement for USPC, ECLA and ICO codes, it will not affect any searches that do not use these classification systems. In DWPI, IPC, Japanese National Classification and Derwent Manual Code searches will be unaffected.

If your searches or Alerts contain ECLA and/or ICO codes, these codes will not pick up new patents published after January 1, 2013. Searches using USPC will continue to work until 2015 when you will need to start using CPC to find new patents.

Benefits of searching using CPC
If you currently use IPC, then you may wish to consider using CPC. Search benefits include: