MPEP Section 903.02(a), New and Revised Classes

Executive summary:

This document contains Section 903.02(a) ("New and Revised Classes ") of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "M.P.E.P."), Eighth Edition, Eighth Revision (July 2010). This page was last updated in January 2011. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the MPEP using the search box that appears on the left side of every page of BitLaw--you may restrict your search to the MPEP on the search results page.

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903.02(a) New and Revised Classes [R-5]

The establishment of new classes or subclasses and the revision of old classes are done under the guidance of **>the Technology Center classification contact, as follows:

(A) The staff performing the reclassification develops an arrangement of documents which is satisfactory for searching;

(B) The definition of the new class or revised class is written or modified;

(C) The lines between the class and other classes are drawn up;

(D) The subclass definitions are established and definitions of all revised classes and subclasses are included in the classification orders; and

(E) The Index of the U.S. Classification System and the Classification Data System files are 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 >(http://ptoweb:8081/)< is accessible from the desktop via the Patent Examiner's Toolkit.

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