EPO - Discussion forums

Hello,

I'm using an offline version of Patstat 2015. I wanted to know, if there is a posibility to get some kind of main IPC class of an EP-patent. I know that in Patstat is a table called tls209_appln_ipc with the column ipc_position. I think it exhibits the place of naming for the IPC class in an patent specification.

At the USPTO or in german patent data you can find a main class which the patent is assigned to.

Hi Torben,

I suppose by "main IPC class" you mean the "most representative" of the IPC symbols.

Of all the IPCs assigned, there should always be a "first" IPC (IPC_POSITION = 'F'). However, its meaning depends on the office:

• I know that for German publications (and I think also for USPTO) the "first" IPC really is the "most representative".
• For EP, however, the "first" does not have a special meaning. AFAIK the first IPC simply is the first IPC in alphabetic order.

Note that some symbols have a blank IPC_POSITION. I suppose this is due to IPC reclassifications, where newly assigned IPCs do not have a value in IPC_POSITION.

Martin