International, regional and corporate classification -

friend and foe of the user

Arndt Mecke (Siemens AG, Munich)

PDG: Who we areThe Patent Documentation Group (PDG), a non-profit organisation, was founded in 1957 as a working group by 13 European chemical and petrochemical companies, seeking to promote the effective and efficient use of patent information. It currently comprises 38 multinational companies in a variety of activities ranging from the engineering, chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Purpose and Objectives

Cooperation in patent information and documentation

Exchange knowledge and experience in all areas relating to patent information

Debate, discuss and stimulate improvements and new developments in patent information products

Determine and communicate proposals to third parties involved in the field of intellectual property

PDG Annual Conference

Main Delegates

PDG Board

Secretary General

PDG WG IMPACTPDG WG Online

Networks & Online RetrievalPDG WG PDV

Patent Database Vendors

Experts from PDG companies, 6 PTO's,

WIPO, Providers, epi

Associated Working Groups

Analysis & Visualisation Biotechnology Chem. Reactions in

Patents Education & Training Fulltext Searching

Experts fromPDG companies

PDG: Organisation

EPO

PIUG, CEPIUGnat. User Groups

Trilateral, IP5 Offices

AsianOffices

CN, JP, KR

USPTO

CAS, TR,Questel, STN,

Providers

WIPO

Nat. Offices(Europe, Brazil)

Partnership

Contributions

Advisory Boards,Annual Conferences,

Meetings

Observer Status:IPC, PCT,Standards

Meetings,Committees,

Forum

IntensifiedCooperation

CommonActivities

CCD

Meetings,Committees,

Forum

PDG: Who are our partners

EPO

PIUG, CEPIUGnat. User Groups

Trilateral, IP5 Offices

AsianOffices

CN, JP, KR

USPTO

CAS, TR,Questel, STN,

Providers

WIPO

Nat. Offices(Europe, Brazil)

Partnership

Contributions

Advisory Boards,Annual Conferences,

Meetings

Observer Status:IPC, PCT,Standards

Meetings,Committees,

Forum

IntensifiedCooperation

CommonActivities

CCD

Meetings,Committees,

Forum

PDG: Who are our partners

Aircraft

Airplane

Aeroplane

plane

Avion

Aereo

飞机

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máy bay

เครื่��องบิน

B64C

Classification – The Concept

Patent Office:

Find Prior Art in office‘s Examination Process

Classification – How is it used

Industry:

- Finding Prior Art (that can be used) in an Opposition or Nullity Procedure

- Identifying IP that could be relevant in a „Freedom To Operate (FTO) Opinion“ or a „Product Clearing“

- Comparing technology positions of competitors

Classification – How is it used

How is Classification used – e.g. FTOFTO is necessary when- A new product is about to be launched- A new plant is build abroad- A new process shall be used- A technology shall be licensed

To make sure that you are free of third parties‘ Intellectual Property Rights as part of due diligence, you have to...

- search comprehensively in "nearly" all databases for the affected countries- evaluate legal status of relevant IP- and eventually draft a legal opinion

Otherwise the company may loose a lot of money …

To be useful in any application in industry a Classification has to be:

-Consistent / Reliable

-Well documented

-As granular as possible

Requirements of industry

Consistent / Reliable

Revison Handling

Well Documented

Granularity Level

Assignment of the symbols by the assigning authrity/authorities

IPC o + +(+) + (70.000)

ECLA ++ ++ + ++ (140.000)

CPC ? ? + +++ (250.000)

USPC ++ ++ o ++ (160.000)

DWPI MC/DC o - + o + + / o (25.000)

FI / F-Terms ++ o o(unfamiliar concept)

+++ 190.000(+375.000)

CHC (future) o(?) ? ? ?

Evaluation ofAvailable Classifications

Classification Assignment of the symbols by the assigning authrity/authorities

IPC „World Wide“

ECLA EPO (+ aligned PCT minimum documentation + some NPL)

CPC EPO + USPTO (+ aligned PCT minimum documentation + some NPL)

USPC USPTO

DWPI MC/DC ~50 Offices + some NPL („DWPI coverage“)

FI / F-Terms JPO

CHC (future) „World Wide“

Country Coverage of Available Classifications

Actual Issues

Aircraft

Airplane

Aeroplane

plane

Avion

Aereo

飞机

самолёт

máy bay

เครื่��องบิน

B64C

Classification – The Concept

IPC:Aircraft: B64C 11/30-44Ship: B63H 3/00-12Wind Turbines: F03D 7Axial-flow pumps: F04D 29/36

Additional CPC:Hydro energy: Y02E 10/223Wind energy: Y02E 10/721

USPC:Fluid reaction surfaces (i.e. Impellers): 416/147ff

DWPI DC:Non-positive displacement engines: Q54

Granularity and Distribution

G07B 15/06 – introduced in 2011.01 : (220 results in PATENTSCOPE)Definition: Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems

Formerly more general Classifications: G07B 15/00, G07B 15/02 and G07B 15/04 had to be searched together with keywords. (still 195 results in PATENTSCOPE)(IC:"G07B 15/00" OR IC:"G07B 15/02" OR IC:"G07B 15/04" )AND( EN_AB:toll OR EN_AB:(congestion charge) OR EN_AB:(road charge*) OR EN_AB:(road pric*) OR EN_AB:toll ) Office(s):wo Language:EN Stemming: true

Of these 195 hits up to 64 relevant hits can still only be found by the old approach((IC:"G07B 15/00" OR IC:"G07B 15/02" OR IC:"G07B 15/04" )AND( EN_AB:toll OR EN_AB:(congestion charge) OR EN_AB:(road charge*) OR EN_AB:(road pric*) OR EN_AB:toll )) NOT (IC:"G07B 15/06" ) Office(s):wo Language:EN Stemming: true

Interpretation: A larger number of relevant documents have not been reclassified after 2+ years!And looking at other offices the numbers are comparable!

IPC Revision Handling

Example: Master / Slave configuration and address assignment in for Daisy-chained industrial controllers (aka Enumeration)

The Patent Family:

•DE4404962-A1; DE4404962-C2•JP7262128-A•US5583754-A•CN1125370-A; CN1083198-C•GB2286750-A; GB2286750-B

IPC Granularity

... was classified into 5 different IPC Classes by the different offices

• G06F 12/06; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; - Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures; • Addressing or allocation; Relocation; •• Addressing a physical block of locations, e.g. base addressing, module addressing, address space extension, memory dedication;

• G06F 13/36; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; - Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units; • Handling requests for interconnection or transfer; •• for access to common bus or bus system;

• G06F 3/00; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; - Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements;

• H04L 12/403; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION; - Data switching networks; • characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]; •• Bus networks; ••• with centralised control, e.g. polling;

• H04Q 9/14; SELECTING; - Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom; • Calling by using pulses;

Conclusion: Introduction of new Classes need to be much more flexible

IPC Granularity

Key issues for a user friendly Classification are:- Consistency and reliability of classification - among offices/institutions that are

applying them- Availability of up-to-date classes aligned to technology in use- Solid and timely revision process

PDG IMPACT has proposed a user day – and WIPO responded positively, which is highly appreciated!

Furthermore we are suggesting a more regular exchange of ideas on classification issues to foster mutual understanding between users and promoting classification as one of the most efficient patent information tools. PDG should therefore be considered a key stakeholder offering all the competence of its 38 industrial member companies.

Conclusion

Thank you!