Class 930 consists of two wholly separable parts, cross -reference art collections 10-320 and digests 500-822. This class is intended to be used as a searching area for patents which disclose an identifiable peptide or protein sequence derived from at least four specified named amino acids. Rules of placement into these areas vary, and although any search in this class is optional, searching Class 930 is useful.
It should be noted that the patents in art collections 10-320 must contain an actual amino acid sequence. A patent containing a reference, in name only, to a peptide or protein compound with a known structure is not included. For example, though the amino acid sequence of insulin is well-known, unless a sequence of at least four amino acids from the insulin structure is shown in the patent, it is not included in these art collections.
The following steps pertain to placement and search.
(1) Compounds containing a modified or unusual amino acid (art collections 20 -25) are placed in all appropriate art collections.
(2) The sole presence of a nonpeptide or abnormal peptide link in a linear peptide is not considered an indication of a modified or unusual amino acid. (See art collection 30.)
(3) See only art collection 22 for halogen containing compounds which are radioactive.
(4) The sulfur contained in the compounds of art collection 24 must be other than, or must be in addition to, that naturally occurring in one or more of the natural amino acids, cysteine, cystine, methionine.
(5) Art collection 30 does not include those peptides which contain as the sole nonpeptide or abnormal peptide link, an interchain disulfide bridge. (6) Compounds included in art collections 200 (bacterial), 220 (parasitic), and 220-224 (viral0, are only those homologous to the microorganism.
(7) Compounds containing a cys-cys disulfide bridge between nonadjacent cysteine residues are placed in art collection 280 with the exception of those compounds such as atrial natriuretic peptide, vasopressin, or others containing disulfide bridges which are appropriate for art collection 40-170.
(8) Art collection 270 does not include peptides or proteins which are cyclic solely due to intrachain disulfide bridges, nor does it include peptides or proteins which are appropriate for art collections 40-170.
(9) Art collection 320 is incomplete. It is intended as a repository for compounds which have been specifically modified to prevent enzymatic degradation, but which are not more appropriately placed in any of the other nonmainline art collections.
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
(A) CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS
Cross-reference art collections 10-320 are intended to be used as a searching area for those patents which disclose an identifiable peptide or protein consisting of a sequence of at least four amino acids covalently bound through at least one normal peptide link.
Due to the nature of this class, it is important that it be considered more as a term list than as a hierarchical schedule. The classification rules of hierarchy do not apply unless otherwise specified in the art collection definitions or unless specified by one art collection being indented under another, i.e., art collections 21-25 are indented under 20, art collections 141-145 are indented under 140.
Therefore, in this class, a peptide or protein compound is placed in all art collections, regardless of order in the schedule, where the concepts of the art collection definition include the compound, unless otherwise specified.
(B) DIGESTS 500-822
Digests 500-822 are being established as U.S. classifications and are equivalent to the European Patent Office's C07K 5/00 - C07K 5/12B; C07K 7/02 - C07K 7/10B; C07K 7/50 - C07K 9/00F4; C07K 13/00; and C07K 99/00B - C07K 99/84 classifications. The European Patent Office (EPO) uses a classification system which is based upon the International Patent Classification (IPC) system. The EPO allows its examiners to add "unofficial" or "alpha" classifications to the IPC in a manner similar to our examiners adding "unofficial" or "alpha" classifications to the U.S. Patent Classification system. With the addition of the "unofficials", the IPC becomes the European Patent Classification (EPC) system.
As U.S. (and other countries) patents are published, the EPO examiners receive them for placement into their search files. The EPO examiners do not depend upon the IPCs printed on the issuing documents for placement; they reclassify each document anew. As a result of trilateral agreements, the U.S. regularly receives the new classification data from the EPO. This classification data allows us the capability to establish digests 500 - 822 as U. S. digests which are equivalent to the EPO classifications recited in the first paragraph and which contain the same U.S. patents which EPO examiners placed into their files.
No definitions are associated with these digests. The full extent of the types of documents intended to be classified in a digest are the titles and any attached notes.
Digests 500-822 are the first areas in the U.S. classification system which are resident in the Manual of Classification and present a classification scheme wherein all of the patents have been classified by another patent office into search areas created other than by U.S. personnel.
The creation of digests 500-822 and their incorporation in the Manual of Classification is a trial program to determine the effectiveness of additional data bases which contain U.S. patents as search areas. In addition this will be the first time that U.S. examiners will be able to search EPC classifications. It is the intent of Documentation to set up other areas of the EPC where it is believed that a search area may be useful.
Digests 500-822 have been presented in a manner generally consistent with the traditional presentation of search areas in the U.S. Manual of Classification. In some instances areas in the EPC have been omitted or arranged in a format to which U.S. examiners are accustomed. In other instances the EPC classification does not contain any U.S. patents. To complete a search of a concept in the EPC it would be advisable to search both the generic subclass and the more specific indented subclass.
Patents can be added to these classifications in the traditional manner, i.e., blue slips, miscellaneous transfer, or 14B card. They can be deleted by the present method of submitting a copy of the document along with a request to classification.
At the end of each digest presented between parentheses is the classification in the EPC which translates to the digest provided for that EPC classification. To distinguish between the IPC and EPC versions it is only necessary to note that the IPC does not contain alpha designations. An example of this difference is digest 610, which is denoted as C07K-99/22. Since the latter is devoid of an alpha character it is both an IPC and EPC classification, whereas C07K-99/22A (digest 611) has an alpha designator and can only be found in the EPC. The use of a slash in the EPC designation C07K-99/ is equivalent to the use of a color in the IPC C07K-99 for this area
It is intended to maintain these digests in a form that reflects the current status of the EPC. As patents are classified into the EPC we will update the present digests to reflect the addition of the newly added documents.
In digests 550-772 and 780-822, sequences modified by removal or addition of amino acids, by substitution of amino acids by others, or by a combination of these modifications, are classified as the parent peptide when the combined number of modifications totals less than 50% of the parent fragment. Fragments of these peptides containing at least 5 amino acids, modified or not as mentioned above, are classified as the parent peptide. In digests 590, 630, and 680, the brackets have been used to indicate the presence of a specified amino acid.
A glossary has been developed for Class 930 (section D of the main class definition). Terms in the GLOSSARY have been used consistently throughout the class. The following terms are applicable only to digests 500-822. (1) LINEAR PEPTIDES (DIGESTS 790-822) may comprise rings formed through a hydroxy or a mercapto group of a hydroxy or a mercapto amino acid and the carboxyl group of another amino acid, (e.g., peptide lactones, etc.) but do not comprise rings which are formed only through peptide links.
(2) CYCLIC PEPTIDES (DIGESTS 532-549) are peptides comprising at least one ring formed only through peptide links; the cyclisation may occur only through normal or abnormal peptide links, e.g., through the 4-amino group of 2,4-diamino-butanoic acid, etc. Cyclic compounds in which at least one link in the ring is a nonpeptide link are considered as linear peptides.
(C) AMINO ACID ABBREVIATIONS
For the purposes of all of Class 930, cross-reference art collections 10-320 and digests 500-822, the following amino acid abbreviations are applicable:
Abbreviations and Amino Acid Names
Ala = Alanine; Arg = Arginine; Asn = Asparagine; Asp = Aspartic Acid (Aspartate); Asx = Aspartic Acid or Asparagine
For the purposes of all of Class 930, cross-reference art collections 10-320 and digests 500-822, the following terms are appropriate as defined:
AMINO ACIDS
Compounds in which at least one amino group and at least one carboxyl group are bound to the same carbon skeleton and the nitrogen atom of the amino group may form part of a ring.
NORMAL PEPTIDE LINK
Exists between an alpha-amino group of an amino acid and the carboxyl group - in position 1 - of another alpha amino acid.
ABNORMAL PEPTIDE LINK Exists between a nonalpha-amino group of an amino acid and the carboxyl group - in position 1 - of an alpha-amino acid, or between an alpha-amino group of one amino acid and the carboxyl group - not in position 1 - of another amino acid.
PEPTIDES
Compounds containing a sequence of 4 to 100 amino acid units, which are bound through at least one normal peptide link.
PROTEINS
Compounds containing an amino acid sequence of more than 100
amino acids, at least two of which are different, bound mostly through normal peptide links.