USPC-to-CPC Concordance Tool Now Available on the USPTO Website!

On January 1, 2013, the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) completely replaced ECLA, and all US published applications will now carry CPC classifications. The EPO’s Espacenet search system has already added a CPC search tool to its portal, and many subscription-based patent search systems have also integrated the CPC into their US and EP patent records and search options. The official CPC website currently offers an “ECLA to CPC to IPC” concordance table for users who need find a relevant CPC symbol that corresponds to an IPC or ECLA classification symbol.  The USPTO website now offers an additional useful tool to help users locate the correct CPC symbol by searching for a corresponding US Patent Classification (USPC) symbol. With this tool, users can enter any USPC symbol and automatically generate a list of the closest corresponding CPC symbols.

After the jump, Landon IP’s librarian Kristin Whitman provides a brief guide on how to use the “Statistical Mapping from USPC to CPC” concordance tool!

Description of the Concordance Tool

The statistical analysis USPC-to-CPC concordance is now available at the USPTO website through the “Classification Search” page (under the “Patent Classification” section of the USPTO website).

Unlike a typical concordance, this website doesn’t associate classifications based on their definitions.  Instead, this concordance uses statistical analysis to link the most frequently co-occurring CPC classes to the US class you’re interested in.  This means that it’s less reliable than an official concordance, but it may still help you identify relevant CPC codes for your search.

Use of the Concordance Tool

To use the USPC-to-CPC concordance on the “Classification Search” page, select the classification system (USPC) and enter your US classification code into the box. You can then select the output format as HTML or PDF. Finally, in the “Select Content” box, you must choose *Statistical Mapping from USPC to CPC* and then click submit.

Search for a USPC symbol to locate the closest corresponding CPC symbols.

The first column of the results table will contain your US class, as well as other closely related classes.  The next columns will show the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most statistically relevant CPC classes.

The USPC-to-CPC concordance table for a specific USPC class.

You can click “more…” and see up to the 5th statistically relevant CPC class.

An expanded list of the 3rd-5th most relevant corresponding CPC symbols (in the 1st row).

The user can also select to view the most statistically relevant CPC subclasses (listed at the very bottom of the table) or view a printable version of the table in PDF format.

Most statistically relevant CPC subclasses, listed at the bottom of the table.

Clicking on one of the classification numbers will open the respective class schedule so you can read the full definition.

A link in the concordance table takes the user to a definition in the CPC class schedule on the USPTO website.

Conclusion

With the release of this USPC-to-CPC concordance tool, searchers now have free access to resources for locating the closest related CPC symbols for USPC, IPC, and ECLA codes.  This USPC-to-CPC concordance tool is just one of many resources that professional patent searchers will use when incorporating CPC codes into their patent search projects. Effective January 1, 2013, Intellogist’s provider Landon IP began incorporating CPC codes into all of their patent search projects, for both their commercial customers around the world and for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) searches that they perform in support of the USPTO.  Landon IP customers will continue to receive the high-quality search results that they have come to expect, now enhanced through the incorporation of CPC codes into the search strategies.

Do you know of any other useful tools related to the CPC?  Tell us in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.