Rolled-up IPC Core Codes removed from Patent Databases on STN
14. December 2011
Rolled-up IPC core codes have now been removed from patent databases on STN to deliver more consistent and streamlined IPC content, according to the simplification of the IPC being in force since January 2011.
In 2006, the IPC reform brought about two levels of the IPC (advanced and core level IPC) and rolled-up core codes were introduced for each advanced level IPC code. This practice simplified searching at the different levels of the IPC across the various patent authorities. In January 2011 the simplification of the IPC came into force which reverted to a one level IPC and abandoned the old core level IPC. As a consequence of these IPC changes, the European Patent Office stopped rolling up core codes and removed all rolled-up core codes from the INPADOC data collection.
Rolled-up IPC core codes have now been removed from the following databases on STN:
- CA/CAplus family of databases
- EPFULL
- FRFULL
- GBFULL
- INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB
- PATDPAFULL
- PCTFULL
- USPATFULL/USPAT2/USPATOLD
- WPINDEX/WPIDS/WPIX
In the DWPI databases the rolled-up core codes have been removed from the set of current IPCs only.