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International Patent Classification 2012
16 December 2011
The International Patent Classification (IPC) version 2012 comes into force on 1 January 2012.
IPONZ examiners will be using the new version for classifying applications accepted and published in Patent Office Journal of 1591 January 2012 onwards.
Searching published patents
Patents applied for prior to 1 January 2012 are not automatically reclassified, may retain retired IPC symbols, and may not include symbols introduced in the new version. When searching for a patent, IPONZ recommends that you use symbols from both the current and earlier versions of the IPC for a complete search.
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