• Introduction
• Overview
• IPC Searching on STN
• STN SDIs
• IPC Codes and STN Databases

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IPC Reform and STN SDIs

Saved Search Strategies and Current-Awareness Alerts (SDIs)

IPC 8 may affect saved search strategies and current-awareness alerts (SDIs). If you have included IPC codes in your saved search strategies or in current-awareness alerts in the CA^SM/CAplus^SM family of databases or in USPAT2/USPATFULL, you will need to review your strategies and make edits, as necessary.

• In the post-Reform era, continued use of /IC, /ICA, /ICI, /ICM, or /ICS will restrict retrieval to those patent documents published with pre-Reform IPC codes; the number of newly issued patents with pre-Reform codes is expected to fall to zero. In addition, the use of /IC, /ICA, /ICI, /ICM, or /ICS in CA or CAplus automatically restricts the results to only the basic patents. Use /IPC instead.

• Any IPC codes included in your search strategies should be verified against the revised manual of classifications available from WIPO or the online thesaurus in CA/CAplus and USPATFULL/USPAT2 to ensure their continued validity.

For more information, contact your STN^® Service Center Help Desk:

CAS Customer Care for STN North America - or - FIZ Karlsruhe Help Desk for STN in Europe.

IPC 8 Thesaurus

A new version of the IPC thesaurus will be available for use in many IPC code-containing databases on STN. It has already been implemented in the CA/CAplus family of databases, EPFULL, FRANCEPAT, INPADOCDB, PATDPASPC, RUSSIAPAT, and in USPATFULL/USPAT2.

The implementation of the IPC thesaurus in STN databases that did not previously contain this information will enhance your searching opportunities in these databases.

WIPO IPC 8 Classification manual