Korean Intellectual Property Office to begin classifying selected Korean patent documents in the
Cooperative Patent Classification System
June 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Korean
Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) today announced the launch of a new pilot in which KIPO will classify some of its patent
documents using the Cooperative Patent Classification system (CPC), a new classification system jointly managed by the
USPTO and the European Patent Office (EPO). KIPO is the first foreign patent office to engage with the USPTO and EPO in this
new system, which debuted on January 1, 2013.
The pilot between KIPO and the USPTO marks a major first step towards KIPO classifying its patent collection using the CPC.
For the pilot, KIPO will apply the CPC classification to patent documents in particular technologies, namely, technologies for which
filings have been especially active at KIPO. KIPO will work together with the USPTO to identify these technologies.
Since October 2010, the USPTO and EPO have worked jointly to develop a common, internationally compatible classification system
to be used by both offices in various examination-related processes in an ongoing effort to enhance efficiency through work-sharing
initiatives and reduce unnecessary duplication of work.
Sign in
