IPC Reform: Industry's View & Obstacles

1. IPC Reform – User‘s view PDG IMPACT Working Group IPC Forum Open Day, February 13th 2006 Peter Kallas Gerold Frers

2. Agenda • Patent Documentation Group – IMPACT Working Group • Why is the industry looking forward to the “new” IPC • Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Some examples • Conclusions

3. Patent Documentation Group – IMPACT Working Group • The IMPACT Working Group is responsible for monitoring, discussing and starting activities that focus on the consequences, benefits, practices and problems of the IPC Reform from the users’ point of view • Participants in WIPO Meetings (with PatCom, IPC Expert Meetings) • Participants in EPO meetings (SACEPO/PDI, EPIC etc.) • Participants in meetings with national offices • Organizing own meetings (IMPACT Workshops with WIPO, EPO, national offices, commercial providers, attorneys and, of course, users) • Coordinating meetings with all parties involved (Special Discussion Meeting IPC Reform/ EPIC)

4. IPC – Why is it useful for industry? • The IPC is a handy tool for patent and information departments and, to a certain extent, for the scientists and engineers: • eases the retrieval of “Prior Art” from patent databases • finds specific documents in combination for instance with keywords, inventor names … • narrows down queries, assisted by keywords or other classification schemes • clusters patents by technology fields • can be used as a means in statistical analysis to • discover general technology trends • identify competitors • evaluate the technology focus of competitors => All this is done on the basis of a classification by official institutions by trained and well-experienced examiners.

5. IPC 8 – Why is the industry looking forward to the “new” IPC General aspects • Smooth transition from previous revisions to IPC 8 • Consolidation of all earlier IPC revisions, also for older documents • Internationally applicable quality standards for participating patent offices • The Core Level Classification is a stable foundation for a longer time scale • Up-to-date coverage of new technologies in the Advanced Level classes • International reach with the prospect of actual global usage and combination of at least 4 international classification schemes

6. IPC – Why is the industry looking forward to the “new” IPC The new philosophy of classification • The Advanced Level Classification scheme is a highly specific and flexible information source • The new philosophy allows discrimination between inventive and non-inventive information • The scope of the IPC in future should comprise the whole content of the document not only the claims

7. IPC 8 – General Remarks • The IPC reform has a far reaching effect on the landscape of patent information • Many – nearly all – information products are affected • Problems in the raw data cause major problems in the whole information chain: from offices to providers and to the end users • Communication of the underlying principles and newly established procedures is the key to success • A close cooperation between WIPO, EPO, national offices, commercial providers and users is of paramount importance • All parties involved have understood these principles!

8. PDG/ IMPACT IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Several information products were delayed or not operational • Communication of the procedure in the offices is often neglected or its value underestimated • Non-standardized procedures lead to irritation of users • Commercial providers and users have to spend additional time and money to run their search operations • Several tools that have been implemented need optimization – from the user´s point of view PDG/ IMPACT, Kallas, Frers/ 20050213 WIPO_IPC_8_User view.ppt

9. IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work?

10. IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work? • Inadequate information on the actual implementation of the IPC 8 standard by the patent offices (Adv. / Core typesetting, advanced “offices” vs. advanced “classes”)

11. Sample – Advanced Office / Core Symbol

12. Sample – Switch for Core / Advanced

13. Sample – Switch for Core / Advanced

14. IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work? • Inadequate information on the actual implementation of the IPC 8 standard by the patent offices (Adv. / Core typesetting, advanced “offices” vs. advanced “classes”) • RCL (Revision Concordance List) difficult to follow

15. Sample – Revision Concordance List ?

16. IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry • Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work? • Inadequate information on the actual implementation of the IPC 8 standard by the Patent Offices (Adv. / Core typesetting, advanced “offices” vs. advanced “classes”) • RCL (Revision Concordance List) difficult to follow • Unclear application by some of the offices

17. Sample – Transferred Classes Jan ´06

18. Sample – Revision 7 Symbols Jan ´06

19. Sample – Reclassification / Addition? What happens with German Utility Models?

20. Sample – transparent procedures needed!

21. Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work? Inadequate information on the actual implementation of the IPC 8 standard by the patent offices (Adv. / Core typesetting, advanced “offices” vs. advanced “classes”) RCL (Revision Concordance List) difficult to follow Unclear application by some of the offices Status of Master Classification Database not yet clarified: availability, implementation, history IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry

22. Consequences of the IPC Reform for larger offices like USPTO and JPO not clear: how will concordances or similar practices work? Inadequate information on the actual implementation of the IPC 8 standard by the patent offices (Adv. / Core typesetting, advanced “offices” vs. advanced “classes”) RCL (Revision Concordance List) difficult to follow Unclear application by some of the offices Status of Master Classification Database not yet clarified: availability, implementation, history The “IPC missing” problem: IPC has to be reliably allotted in high quality without any gaps => without IPC classes, reform is a waste of time! IPC 8 – Obstacles in the way of a painless adoption of the new scheme by the industry

23. IPC 8 Conclusions • The focus of industry is now on the problems rather than the advantages! • The offices and WIPO should communicate all problems and changes in the procedures immediately: there is a world outside! • Only a streamlined procedure with transparent classification standards will lead to better adoption and recognition of the benefits of the IPC Reform • Discuss the problems and established or new procedures with all parties involved - WIPO, EPO, offices, providers and users • Provide time schedules for the different implementation steps • Use opportunities such as today!