Class 987 provides an ANCILLARY and totally OPTIONAL search for subject matter relating to certain types of ORGANIC COMPOUNDS found under official Class 532. This class has been developed and relates to the subject matter in Class C07F,
subgroups 9/00-19/00 of the International Patent Classification System (IPC).
The subject matter of this class encompasses acyclic, carbocyclic, or heterocyclic compounds containing elements other than carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, halogen, and elements of Groups I-IV of the Periodic System.
This Class Does NOT Provide for Organic Compounds Relating to:
(1) Peptides, proteins, or enzymes ; (2) Sugars or derivatives thereof, nucleosides, nucleotides, nucleic acids, saccharides, or polysaccharides or derivatives thereof; (3) Steroids; (4) Macromolecular compounds; (5) Dyes.
The Technical Subject Matter of This Class Relates to:
(1) Organic compounds containing a heavy metal of the 6th to 8th Group of the Periodic System
See Subclass References to the Current Class, below, for a map to these subclasses.
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
The general hierarchy of the Class 532 series has not been followed and the above compounds include heterocyclic rings when present together with the required elements of this class. As can readily be seen, this class provides an opportunity for searching certain types of heterocyclic compounds as well as certain phosphorus organic compounds in an alternative manner from that of Class 532.
Class 987 is a prototypical searching area developed under the auspices of the Office of International Patent Classification. In the past, search areas in the U.S. classification system (Classes 976, 968, 984, and 930) have been created utilizing the European Patent Office's (EPO) classification of U.S. patents into their search and retrieval system. Class 987 is significantly different from those other classification areas in that a substantial number of patents have been reviewed, a large number of subclasses have been rearranged or merged, and definitions have been written to describe the contents of each and every subclass. In addition, the entire schedule has been presented in a format which utilizes the first place rule of classification which is the standard practice within the U.S. Patent Classification System (USPCS).
The European Patent Classification System (EPCS) utilizes,
for the most part, the skeletal outline of the International Patent Classification System (IPCS). To the broad IPCS, the EPO has added additional classification areas and thereby has created the EPCS. These are equatable to alpha subclasses in the USPC. Both the IPCS and the EPCS utilize a last place classification rule in C07F, which is the area of classification equatable to new Class 987. The last place rule requires locating the last subgroup in the classification schedule which provides for the subject matter to be classified. The U.S. classification system requires placement in the first subclass for the subject matter to be classified. As can readily be seen, these are substantially different philosophies in the placement of documents. The Class 987 schedule has been presented in a format which negates this difference and therefor does not place any undue burden upon the user to learn a new and different philosophy of search.
Class 987 was created with the intention that Group 1200 of the United States Patent and Office (USPTO) would soon have the capability of searching patents utilizing all of the enhanced aspects of the Automated Patent System; in particular, the aspect relating to image searching. It is the belief of Classification that the addition of Class 987 to the searchable database can be of assistance at various times in the examination process.
Although we believe that Class 987 will be of use to the examination process, we are fully aware that the addition of new search areas can create problems. One of the most obvious questions that we have is the question of how examiners in the EPO place documents. In the USPTO, we know that certain rules exist between classes, that rules of superiority apply between diverse types of subject matter (compound, method of making, and method of using), that rules of comprehensiveness apply between classes, and that all claims are classified, and unclaimed subject matter is cross-referenced to subclasses when it is determined to be useful.
In Class 987, we are relying on the placement techniques of examiners in the EPO to locate U.S. patents. Although we believe that EPO examiners follow our general rules in the compound classes, we will not be completely certain until Class 987 is tested and evaluated by the Corps. We hope to conduct tests in concert with the Corps and will evaluate fully the effectiveness of Class 987. If, at the end of the evaluation period, we find that Class 987 does not meet the requirements of the Corps, we will rethink whether we want to retain the class.
The IPC and the EPC do not contain the types of definitions associated with U.S. classes. This, in itself, does not in any manner flaw their system. The titles and attendant notes in the IPC are the full extent of the content of any subgroup. When those tools are used together with the Guide to the IPC (Volume 9), all of the tools to access and retrieval are available. In the creation of this class,
definitions and notes have been written. Many of the definitions are no more than the repeating of a subclass title, while in other areas the definitions are much more meaningful. The advantage, of course, to any definition is that it hopefully conveys information that the creator of the subclass thought might be useful to a user of the system and that information is available even if the creator is no longer available. We believe that the use of definitions leads to consistency of patent placement. Class 987 is available on the Automated Patent System (APS). It is to be treated as any other class, with the proviso that it cannot accept any original classifications and that any search in the class is OPTIONAL. Patents can be added through the use of the blue slip on allowance or by miscellaneous transfer. Patents can be deleted from the files in the manner currently in use.
Subject Matter Relating to Subclasses 300-304
The subject matter in subclasses 300-304 relates to EPCS 9/02A-9/02E. This is an ancillary search to subclasses 30-234 which include the subject matter of this search area, but where no specific subclass has been identified in that array.
Subject Matter Relating to Subclasses 350-368
The subject matter in subclasses 350-368 which encompasses phosphorus containing a hetero ring containing at least one nitrogen atom and no other hetero atom is equivalent in scope to EPCS 9/65-9/65D3B. The aforementioned area in the EPCS does not accept new patents and will be abolished in the future. It has been replaced by subgroups 9/547 and 9/553-9/6533 which equate to new subclass 49 and subclasses 67-108. Although the scope of subject matter is the same, it has been presented in a different classification scheme and therefore movement of patents from one area to the other is not easily done without reading the documents. The EPO is in the process of reclassifying those patents into their new reclassification scheme.
It is apparently the policy of the EPO to maintain two searching areas as patents are being reclassified from an abolished to a newly created subgroup. Since the abolished area is not equivalent to the newly established areas, it has been determined by the U.S. IPC group to concurrently present the two classification systems. When the EPO has reclassified all of the patents in the abolished area, the U.S. IPC group will obtain that information and add those patents to subclasses 49 and 67-108. At the same time, subclasses 350-368 will be abolished.
SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:
1, -21, for organic compounds containing a heavy metal of the 6th to 8th Group of the Periodic System.
22, -29, for organic compounds containing Bismuth, Antimony, or Arsenic.
30, -368, for organic compounds containing Phosphorus
GLOSSARY: The following terms are used throughout the schedule.
ARYL
Denotes an independent benzene ring or a benzene ring which is part of a fused or bridged ring system.
CHALCOGEN
Limited to oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), or tellurium (Te).
CYANO
Denotes a triple bond between an adjacent carbon and nitrogen atom. As used in this class, cyano is always bonded directly to a phosphorus atom through the carbon atom.
CYCLOALIPHATIC
Denotes a ring composed solely of a carbon atom and includes aryl.
ETHYLENIC
Denotes a double bond or triple between adjacent acyclic carbon atoms.
HALOGEN Limited to fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At).