U.S. utility patents and U.S. utility patent application publications published after December 31, 2014, do not receive a designated U.S. patent classification. U.S. design and plant patents and U.S. plant patent application publications receive a designated U.S. patent classification. Current classification information for U.S. patents is available from the sources indicated below.

The Office of Patent Classification Home Page address on the Internet is www.uspto.gov/Classification. The site is the clearinghouse for classification information published in hyper-text mark-up language (HTML) and Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The site includes the following: (A) the Index to the U.S. Patent Classification system (USPC) (linked from "Index to USPC" under the "United States Classification (USPC) system" menu); (B) class definitions (linked from "USPC Class Numbers and Titles"); and (C) class schedules (linked from "USPC Class Numbers and Titles"). The site integrates with the USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database site by allowing a search of a subclass by clicking on a patent icon in the classification schedules and definitions which generates a search result in the USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database. The USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database provides full-text of all US patents issued since January 1, 1976, and full-page images of each page of every US patent issued since 1790. Therefore, it is possible to see every patent in a subclass by browsing the classification schedules using the Classification Home Page in combination with the USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database.

The address for the Patent Classification Home Page on the USPTO intranet is https://ptoweb.uspto.gov/ patents/classification-resources/. The Classification Home Page is also accessible from the desktop via the Patent Examiner’s Toolkit. The site is the clearinghouse for classification information by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Examiners and the public are provided with access to identical information for the Index, schedules, and definitions.

The Intranet Classification Home Page site also includes links to international information such as CPC schedules, IPC Concordance, IPC Schedules, IPC Catchword Index, WIPO Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation, and to national (U.S.) information such as Overview of the Classification System, Classification Guides and Bulletins, and the Patent Classification Search Page.

The Patent Classification Retrieval System (PCRS) provides Original (OR) and Cross-Reference (XR) classification information for individual patents and listings of patents contained in subclasses. This data is updated bimonthly with new issues, withdrawn patents and reclassifications.

The automated search tools on examiners’ desktop computers include the Examiner’s Automated Search Tool (EAST), the Web-Based Examiner Search Tool (WEST), the Patents End-to-End Search tool (SEARCH) and the Foreign Patent Access System (FPAS). EAST, WEST, and SEARCH provide examiners with access to the: (A) full text of U.S. published applications since 2001; (B) full text of U.S. patents granted since 1970; and (C) optically scanned full text of U.S. patents granted 1920-1970. Additionally, EAST, WEST, and SEARCH each provide current classification information and images for all U.S. published applications and patents. Images are available for foreign patent documents, and English language abstracts are available for many foreign patent documents published since 1978 using the automated search tools. Specific instructions for gaining access to the various documents available using the automated search tools can be found on the EAST, WEST, SEARCH and BRS Search Strategy webpages on the intranet, available on the examiners’ desktop computers.

The EAST and WEST products are also available to users in the Patent Search Room at the USPTO.