The International Patent Classification (IPC), established by the Strasbourg Agreement 1971, provides for a hierarchical system of language independent symbols for the classification of patents and utility models according to the different areas of technology to which they pertain. A new version of the IPC enters into force each year on January 1. Find out more about the IPC.
IPCCAT - A categorization assistance tool for the IPC system mainly designed to help to classify patents at IPC class, subclass or main group level.
STATS - A tool which provides IPC predictions based on statistical analysis of the patent documents containing the specified search terms.
IPC Green Inventory - Facilitates searches for patent information relating to Environmentally Sound Technologies.
Upon request, WIPO provides intensive training to the staff of national or regional industrial property offices in the use of the IPC for classifying and searching.
Also available, training examples prepared by the IPC Revision Working Group and PowerPoint presentations addressing different issues relating to the use of the IPC.
We provide IPC master files and their by-products as well as some of the tools used to create them. In case of inconsistency between master files and their by-products, the master files are the reference.
All files can be freely downloaded and stored, copied, modified (layout or format), printed, used to create derivative products and publicly displayed. WIPO's copyright should be acknowledged in respect of the use of data from the authentic versions of the IPC in public products and services.
Circulars are available in respective meeting pages.
Using PATENTSCOPE you can search through more than 30 million patent documents including 2.2 million international patent applications submitted under the PCT.
WIPO’s Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation is the authoritative source of the Organization’s standards, recommendations and guidelines in the field of industrial property information and documentation.