Use of the IPC in the Industry Gerold

Use of the IPC in the Industry Gerold Frers Arndt Mecke IPC WORKSHOP WIPO, GENEVA, 2008 -02 -04

Agenda Ø Ø Ø Usage of IPC in the industry / Benefits Consequences of the IPC reform Impact of changes in IPC for alerts Implication of incorrect assigned IPC codes Examples 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 2

Usage of IPC in the industry Ø General business and portfolio decisions • • Buying a business because of technological synergies Buying a business because of needed technologies Identifying the Licensee of IPRs for needed technologies Identifying internal business that does not match the overall portfolio (anymore) Ø General technology decisions • • Is a technology already covered by competitors or are there still "white spots“ Are competitors going for a special technology Ø Single IPR related decisions • Identifying IPRs that can be sold or licensed-out Ø R&D related applications • • • 2008 -02 -04 Profile based surveillance of competitors or technologies Freedom of operation searches Prior-art searches Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 3

Benefits of the IPC Ø Reduced need of complex and error prone keyword searches • Example: Main Group B 61 C 3/00 can replace keywords like: “electric locomotive”, “electric railcar”, “locomotive with electric propulsion …” in a search Ø Hierarchical classification scheme applied by the skilled professionals of the patent offices. 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 4

Consequences of the IPC reform Ø Reduced comparability of statistical analyses performed before the reform and today as well as those carried out in the future. Ø Slightly easier prior-art searches because of the now dynamic classification scheme. Ø Loss of instruments that were used for years in every day work: e. g. Main / Secondary Classes 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 5

Impact IPC reform on alert services Ø Much larger effort is necessary to keep automated profiles up-todate due to the regular changes in the classification Ø Because of the use of correlation tables by other classification systems those systems are more sensitive for inconsistencies and delays in the new IPC process • Example: US Class, Derwent Manual Codes, F-Terms(? ) 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 6

Implication of incorrect assigned or initially missing IPC codes Ø Any document that has an incorrect assigned or an initially missing IPC code is lost as information source for alert services Ø Depending on your database provider whole sets of documents can be unavailable, if the IPC is incorrect or missing • Example: WO 2006 074123 • Complete change of scope between A 2 and A 3 from • B 03 B • to G 06 K (SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMAGE LIFT WITH ENHANCED IMAGE CAPTURE ) (SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS) (RECOGNITION OF DATA; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS) 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 7

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P 4 Separating, Mixing P 41 Crushing: centrifuging, separating solids (B 02, B 03, B 04). P 42 Spraying, atomising (B 05). 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 10

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Conclusion and requirement Ø Solve the problem with missing IPC Ø Early information about Reclassification Ø More cooperation between the offices in the standardization processes Ø Improvement of the usability of the available online tools 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 12

PDG activities and working groups Ø IMPACT (meetings twice a year, next in Basel April 2008) Ø SACEPO/PDI Ø EPOPIC Ø In all this groups / meetings we are discussing the facts and working on solutions Ø Thank you for your attention 2008 -02 -04 Gerold Frer /Arndt Mecke Page 13