Manual of Patent Examining Procedure - MPEP

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900 Prior Art, Classification, and Search

903.02(a) New and Revised Classes

The establishment of new classes or subclasses and the revision of old classes are done under the guidance of a supervisory patent classifier (SPC) .

The staff performing the reclassification develops an arrangement of documents which is satisfactory for searching.

The definition of the new class or revised class is written or modified, the lines between the class and other classes are drawn up, and the subclass definitions are established.

The Index to the U.S. Classification System and the Classification Data System files are also updated.

Notification of the new class or subclass is published in a classification order . Copies of classification orders are available online to USPTO personnel from the Classification Home Page under the heading Classification Reports. The Classification Home Page is accessible from the desktop via the Patent Examiner's Toolkit.

Definitions of all revised classes and subclasses are included in classification orders.

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