At the new year the biggest changes in the International Patent Classification system since the 2006 IPC Reform were implemented. The most important was the abolition of the core level of the IPC, which was replaced with an option for offices to classify only to main group level, instead of using the entire system. There are several other developments in the field of patent classification:

CHC (Common Hybrid Classification)

CHC is the strategy chosen by the FiveIPOffices (“IP5”, the cooperation between the European, American, Japanese, Chinese and Korean patent offices) in order to develop the IPC. It is based on selecting, in each technical field, one of the existing internal classification systems (EPO’s ECLA and Japan Patent Office’s FI) as a basis for new subdivisions in the IPC. It is planned to go through the entire IPC before 2021. The results of the first pilot projects will be introduced into the IPC at the new year.

CPC (Common Patent Classification)

In October 2010 the EPO and the USPTO decided to start a cooperation in order to develop a common classification system, based on ECLA. It is intended to launch the new system on January 1st, 2013. This is a very ambitious plan, since a lot of things have to be done:

• ECLA solutions that aren’t compatible with the classification schemes or philosophies of the IPC will be removed.
• The indexing system ICO, which is applied together with ECLA, will be integrated into the new system.
• As many as possible of the standardized “keywords”, which are used as an internal search tool at EPO, will be converted to classification groups.
• The numbering of the groups will be changed to an IPC-like format, using only numbers instead of the mix of numbers and letters used in ECLA.
• Invention information and additional information will be handled in the same way as in IPC. Data exchanges and validations will be made according to IPC standards.
• Ongoing revisions and reclassification projects in ECLA will be finished during the first half of 2012, so that the system can be kept static during the switchover
• “Field-specific Classification Rules”, similar to IPC’s definitions, will be created for all technical fields.
• There will be a massive training program at the USPTO, using computerized training modules.
  Work has already started, and it is hoped that it will lead to a classification system with almost 200,000 groups, which should be compared with the 70,000 groups of the IPC. USPTO intends to abolish its own classification system when the new system makes it possible. It is also hoped that other big offices will also use the CPC. PRV uses ECLA today, and will of course adopt the new system, which will lead to quite a bit of development work during 2012.

Integration of ECLA/CPC and FI with the IPC

In order to quickly develop and enlarge the IPC, WIPO has proposed to integrate all groups of ECLA/CPC and FI as subgroups in IPC. This would immediately add some 180,000 groups to the IPC, which would make searches less complicated and more efficient. However, it will come with the risk of the classification schemes becoming very complicated when two other systems are integrated. The intention is that different patent offices should optionally classify in the ECLA/CPC groups or in the FI groups. The proposal requires the active support from the IP5 offices, who have still not made any decisions.