 |
Patent Search Strategy ProjectThe Patent Search Strategy Project is delivering a new and improved search facility that will ultimately provide electronic access to all Australian patent data. Find out more about the project. |
|
IP Australia provides useful services to our clients, such as free access to our databases over the Internet.
Important: Please read our disclaimer regarding use of IP Australia's database services.
We recommend that you obtain professional advice before significant business decisions are made based on published patent documents, or if assistance is needed in searching Australian or worldwide patent documentation or in interpreting the results of patent searches.
Read about how searching patent information can help you.
The International Patent Classification, which is commonly referred to as the IPC, divides technology into eight sections with approximately 70,000 subdivisions. Each subdivision has a symbol consisting of Arabic numerals and letters of the Latin alphabet.
The appropriate IPC symbols are indicated on each patent document (published patent applications and granted patents). The IPC symbols are allotted by the national or regional industrial property office that publishes the patent document.
The Classification is a way of obtaining an internationally uniform classification of patent documents, and forms an effective search tool for the retrieval of patent documents by patent offices and other users, in order to establish the novelty and evaluate the inventive step (including the assessment of technical advance and useful results or utility) of patent applications.
For more information visit the WIPO information page
If you require further help with the patents databases, please contact us.