Now that the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) have adopted and migrated to the new Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) System, professional patent searchers as well as private inventors have a new power tool for accessing patent information world-wide. Bob Craig, a former USPTO Patent Examiner and International Classifier Rapporteur, has unique knowledge and insight about the CPC and will be sharing his thoughts on the new System at the October 3, 2015 meeting.

1. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System:
A Challenge and
An Opportunity
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2. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC)
What is it ? A new patent
classification system jointly
developed by the European
Patent Office (EPO) and the
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3. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) SystemHow is it structured/laid out ?
The CPC is a classification system with the following order or
structure hierarchy having :
 Sections (letter s A to H, & Y) which consists of broad
areas of technology:
Class (two digits, e.g., 01) are class symbols, divisions
of Sections;
Subclass (one letter, e.g., A-Z), divisions of Classes;
Group (one to three digits, e.g., 123, followed by
an oblique stroke: /) divisions of Subclasses
"group" number and finally:
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4. Sections (letter s A to H, & Y) which consists of broad areas of
technology:
A: Human Necessities
B: Operations and Transport
C: Chemistry and Metallurgy
D: Textiles
E: Fixed Constructions
F: Mechanical Engineering
G: Physics H: Electricity
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The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System

5. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) SystemTo access the CPC on the USPTO website:
Go to www.USPTO.gov,
Under “Patent Tools and Links” Click on “Search for Patents”,
Under the drop down box in left hand corner click on “Learn
about Classification”,
On “Classification Standards and Practices” page under
“Cooperative Patent Classification” heading, click on
“browsing the CPC scheme”;
The CPC scheme will appear.
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6. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
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7. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
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8. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) SystemTo word search the CPC:
Go to the EPO patent word searching tool called
ESPACENET: go to worldwide.espacenet.com,
Under heading “Smart search” box click on
“Classification search”,
You can then search in the Keyword searching box.
To see patents in a CPC:
 On ESPACENET: Drill down on a Classified Search &
then click on “Find Patents”.
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9. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
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10. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
For more information on the
CPC, training modules, etc. go
to: www.cpcinfo.org.
If you have a USPC class and
subclass, you can determine10/9/15 Robert J. Craig @ 10

11. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
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12. The New Cooperative Patent
Classification (CPC) System
Questions ?
Robert J. Craig @ RoberCraig@gmail.com
PatentCounselGroup.com
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