MPEP Section 902.02, Class and Subclass Definitions

Executive summary:

This document contains one section of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "M.P.E.P."), Eighth Edition, Fifth Revision (August 2006). This page was last updated in July 2007. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the MPEP use the search box that appears on the bottom of every page of BitLaw--be sure to restrict your search to the MPEP in the pop-up list.

For more information on patent law, please see the Patent Section of BitLaw. For patent services, see the Beck & Tysver pages.

Previous Section (§902.01(a)) | Next Section (§902.02(a))

902.02 Class and Subclass Definitions

All of the utility classes (i.e., classes devoted to technology), and the plant class have definitions. All design classes will * eventually have definitions.

Definitions state the subject matter of the classes and subclasses **>in much more detail than it is possible to state in the brief< class and subclass titles. A study of the definitions is essential to determine the proper classification of subject matter within the U.S. Patent Classification System >(USPC)<.

All classes and subclasses (class definitions) in the **>USPC< are available online to USPTO personnel from the Classification Home Page under the heading Search Classification Data. The Classification Home Page >(http://ptoweb:8081/)< is accessible from the desktop via the Patent Examiner's Toolkit. The >class< definitions are archived >in portable document formats (PDFs)< to CD-ROM every June and December.

It should be noted that classification orders frequently affect existing definitions. Personal sets of definitions used by examiners should be periodically revised to reflect >these< changes. 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.