Indexing codes in ECLA

In a conversation a few days ago, a PI veteran noted that the use of
indexing codes in ECLA is not generally known or understood. Having
located a good example, I would like to communicate it below for those
interested.

The example is U.S. Pregrant 20040146660A
(http://cxp.paterra.com/uspregrant20040146660.html).

The class-claims view is at
http://cxp.paterra.com/uspregrant20040146660cc.html. The header frame
gives the USPC classes and the ECLA classes. Clicking on any of the
class codes causes the corresponding class hierarchy to appear in the
lower left frame. The claims appear in the lower right frame. In the
ECLA list, indexing codes appear with a plus sign in parentheses after
their corresponding inventive class code.

Indexing codes are non-trivial technical information which does not in
itself represent an addition to the state of the art but might
constitute useful information for the searcher. See, e.g., INTERNATIONAL
PATENT CLASSIFICATION Eighth Edition (2006) GUIDE, p.15.
(http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/ipc_ce/34/pdf/ipc_ce34_10_6.pdf)

Interestingly, the Esp_at_cenet search page only gives the inventive class
codes (http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US2004146660&F=0).
However, the bibliographic records from Esp_at_cenet's Open Patent Services
(http://ops.espacenet.com) do contain indexing codes.

The first inventive ECLA class, A61L27/34, is for macromolecular
materials for coating prostheses. The following indexing code,
C08L83/00, is for "Compositions of macromolecular compounds obtained by
reactions forming in the main chain of macromolecule a linkage
containing silicon with or without sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen or carbon only."

The second inventive ECLA class, C08J7/04L83, is for coating of shaped
articles with only one layer of a composition contain a polymer binder,
where the polymer is according to C08L83/00. There is no indexing code
but the ECLA title provides a reference to C08L83/00.

The third inventive ECLA class, C09D4/00, is for coating compositions
based on organic non-macromolecular compounds having at least one
polymerizable carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond. The indexing codes,
C08G77/00 and C08G77/04, are for "macromolecular compounds obtained by
reactions forming a linkage containing silicon with or without sulfur,
nitrogen, oxygen or carbon in the main chain of the macromolecule," and
for polysiloxanes, respectively.

In this example, the indexing codes allow a searcher who is interested
in polysiloxane coatings for protheses to find this document starting
from a search on polysiloxanes. The inventive classes themselves do not
provide for this.

--
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Received on Tue Aug 02 2005 - 11:54:29