Innovation and Rights - Developing Biomedical Devices: Design, Innovation and Protection - page 50

Fig. 3.6 Screenshot of the search page of the FI and F-terms codes
In the English version of the search interface Patent Map Guidance (Fig. 3.6 )
it is not possible to carry out searches using F-terms (these are available in the
Japanese interface only).
To perform searches, it is advisable to identify the main class IPC and deter-
mine the corresponding FI class (through the PMG system—Fig. 3.6 ). Having
thus obtained the theme code (e.g. 4C146), you can either click the code
(expressed in the form of a hyperlink) or enter it in the field F - terms to display
the list ( List ) of the term codes . The option F - terms description is quite ineffec-
tive—at least as concerns the English interface—since most information has not
yet been translated: only about 200 of the 1,800 theme codes have an English
translation [ 2 ].
The US classification system (USPC—Fig. 3.7 ) is based exclusively on the
technology described in US patents. Plants and ornamental designs are classi-
fied differently [ 10 ]. The USPC system ( http://www.uspto.gov/go/classiication/ )
arranges technical and patent literature into classes and subclasses. The classifica-
tion is based on:
• industrial ield;
• utility (a broad notion relating to the function, the effect or the achieved
product);
• structure (chemical/physical composition or coniguration).
3.4.2.3 Strategies
No single strategy exists to search for a classification code assigned to an inven-
tion. For example, based on the IPC system, it is possible:
• to perform an initial search based on keywords in the title and/or in the abstract
and then perform a statistical analysis of the codes ascribed to the documents
which are deemed relevant; or else