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Manual of Patent Examining Procedure - MPEP900 Prior Art, Classification, and Search903.04 Classifying Applications for Publication as a Patent App-lication PublicationPatent applications filed on or after November 29, 2000 are published as a patent application publication pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 122(b), unless certain exceptions apply. See MPEP § 1120. Patent application publications are given a primary classification (equivalent to an original classification), and may also be given a secondary classification (equivalent to a cross reference). While there may be only one primary classification for a single patent application publication, there may be either none or several secondary classifications. The primary classification of a patent application publication is determined based on the application's main inventive concept using the claims as a guide. A primary classification could be any U.S. class/subclass (except cross reference art collections, digests and foreign art collection subclasses). A secondary classification is based on other inventive concepts (mandatory) or valuable disclosure (discretionary), and may be any U.S. class/subclass (including cross reference collections and digests, but excluding foreign art collection subclasses). The classification of a patent application publication is printed on the front page of the publication. About three months before the projected publication date, applications that are scheduled for publication are classified using programs designed to enable entry of certain data required for publication of patent applications. Applications are classified by giving each application at least a primary classification. The international classification corresponding to the U.S. classification is retrieved automatically by the program based on the Concordance. In addition, if a figure is to be published, the figure is selected at the time of classification. |