The International Patent Classification
Overview and further information
The International Patent Classification (IPC) has been established to organise and index technical subjects and covers all fields of technology. Since 1975, it has been used for classifying patents and utility models.
More than 100 patent agencies around the world use the IPC for classifying patent documents, for example, the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
You can search by IPC symbols for patent or utility model documents in a database, irrespective of the language and without the need to know the specific document numbers.
In order to include the latest technological and scientific development into the classification the IPC is constantly being updated (revised).
Further information:
- International Patent Classification: The current and all previous editions/versions of the IPC are available in German, English and French including a search function for finding IPC places by means of catchwords and for finding references. IPC concordance information is also available here. It enables you to trace the changes between different versions of the IPC. The related help page contains instructions on how to use the IPC index and general information about the IPC and DEKLA.
- IPC-download
- Patent search by means of classification symbols:
more information is contained in
DPMAinformativ Nummer 4 (in German) - DEPATISnet: patent search, based a.o. on classification symbols
Hierarchical structure
1. Sections
The eight sections (A - H) are the highest hierarchical level of the IPC. They roughly divide the technical contents into:
- A - HUMAN NECESSITIES
- B - PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- C - CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- D - TEXTILES; PAPER
- E - FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- F - MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- G - PHYSICS
- H - ELECTRICITY
2. Classes, subclasses, groups
The sections are hierarchically divided into classes and subclasses as well as groups, which may be main groups or subgroups. These subdivisions are identified by alphanumeric classification symbols.
An example may look like this:
| Section | Class | Subclass | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| G | 02 | B | 25/00 |
| Physics | Optics | Optical elements, systems, or apparatus | Eyepieces; Magnifying glasses |
G02C7/00 - main group, identifiable by a slash followed by the numerals 00 .../00
G02C7/12 - subgroup, identifiable by a slash followed by a number >0 .../>0
There is also a hierarchical subdivision used within subgroups, the so-called dot hierarchy.
3. DEKLA
DEKLA is not an independent classification system but a name for DPMA-internal subdivision groups of the current IPC version used for archiving purposes only.
DPMA classifies publications of German patent and utility model documents exclusively according to the IPC. But examiners of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office may use subdivisions of IPC groups for the subsequent storage of relevant documents in the database archive in order to further refine prior art searches if IPC is not sufficient. These subdivisions are called DEKLA groups. DEKLA currently comprises nearly 40,000 subdivisions in addition to the IPC; the combined classifications have about 110,000 subdivisions.
The additional DEKLA group symbols are identified by a letter/number combination, beginning with a letter. This combination is added, with a leading space, to the IPC classification symbol. DEKLA groups extend the dot hierarchy of the relevant IPC group. They are placed at least one hierarchical level lower than the respective IPC group. Their titles are only available in German. Within DEPATISnet, documents saved in this archive are only searchable within the fields ICP (search file IPC) and IC (all IPC fields).
Example:
- regular IPC group: A24F 19/00 ashtrays
- with added DEKLA group: A24F 19/00 A . mit Bewegungsmechanik (with moving mechanism)
© 2013 Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt | Last updated 13/05/13