Innovation and Rights - Developing Biomedical Devices: Design, Innovation and Protection - page 48

Table 3.2 The main types of patent classification
Type of classification Number of categories

IPC 69,000

CPC 250,000

USPC 430 classes and 140,000 subclasses

FI 180,000

F-terms 350,000

The classification overcomes possible problems related to terminology (the lan-
guage used in patents is a compromise between the legal and the technical jargons)
as well as those arising from the fact that text searching is not always available
(for example, the USPTO database contains only images for patents from 1790 to
1976) and finally it is really effective because useful information is not necessar-
ily based on text (for instance chemical formulas, nucleotide sequences or circuit
diagrams).
Inventions are classified based on both functional features and possible applica-
tions. The IPC divides patentable technologies into eight sections (A-H), in their
turn broken down in increasingly detailed levels (classes, subclasses, groups and
subgroups).

3.4.2.2 Other Classification Systems

The classification system applied by the European Patent Office (CPC—
Cooperative Patent Classification) ) is based on the IPC system, but is more
detailed and undergoing to a higher number of revisions.
The CPC scheme is based on the former ECLA subdivisions and includes:

• all former ICO codes;
• almost entirely the former EPO Keywords (KW);
• some entries originating from USPC.

CPC is similar to ECLA but uses longer numbers to replace the old ECLA letters
at the end of classes. Now the CPC scheme consists in a total of about 250,000
subdivisions.
The Espacenet database allows users to perform searches in both systems
(Fig. 3.5 ) (IPC and/or CPC).
The Japanese classification File Index (FI) is very similar to the Cooperative
one (CPC): it is actually a one-dimensional classification system with a hierarchi-
cal structure, based on the IPC system but with additional subdivisions (specified
by subdivision symbols). In some cases a file discrimination symbol in the form of
a letter may be added [ 29 ].
An example of the FI is reported here: C 01 B 31/02 , 101 F
Instead, the so-called File Forming terms (F-terms) follows a different standard:
it is a two-dimensional matrix system (not deriving from the IPC system) devised