Patent Classification
Arrangement of patent applications and patents by technical field, which facilitates first of all novelty search. Formerly almost all countries used different national classification systems. In 1971, the International Patent Classification (IPC) was created, by means of which the difficulties arising from the use of various national patent classifications can be eliminated. This classification system follows the technical development, the 8th edition (IPC8) has been in force since 1 January 2006.