What is Classification?
The primary purpose of a patent classification system is to provide for an effective and efficient means of organizing and retrieving patent documents by technological subject.
Other purposes include:
- Selective dissemination of patent information
- State of the art searching
- Prepartion of IP statistics
Classification vs. Keywords
Searching by classification is superior to keyword searching because it is:
- Language independent
- Terminology/jargon independent
- Applied by experts (patent office staff)
- Available for (old) patent documents that lack searchable full text
- Useful for concept searching
