2 March 2015
Recently, the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) received inquiries as to the status of United Stated Patent Classification (USPC), as well as the status of USPC symbols on patent grants.
Throughout 2013 and 2014, numerous Bi-lateral Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) events were held with external stakeholders providing notice that USPC would become a static document collection for utility patents after December 2014. While in early 2015, stakeholders will see a limited amount of US Patent grants still issuing with USPC symbols due to allowed applications already in the publication cycle. The USPTO no longer actively assigns USPC symbols to issued utility patents.
Plants and Design are not covered in CPC and therefore will continue to be published with USPC symbols in these technology areas.
As USPTO moves forward with CPC, we look forward to working with our stakeholders to ensure that the classification system remains strong and agile.
For more information contact cpc@uspto.gov