International Patent Classification in Derwent databases

The use of the International Patent Classification (IPC) as an integral part of the production processes for Derwent’s patent databases is described. For example, the IPC terms supplied on the incoming newly published patent specifications are used in the initial assignment to the experts who will carry out tasks such as applying Derwent’s own classification and indexing. They may also detect errors in the IPC terms and will notify the relevant Patent or Intellectual Property Office accordingly. The way that IPC terms are recorded, and are retrievable as search and as display terms in files such as World Patent Index on the hosts STN, Dialog and Questel is detailed. Derwent’s classification and its links with the IPC are described and illustrated with an example using a particular prostaglandin patent.