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International Patent Classification 2013
28 November 2012
The International Patent Classification (IPC) version 2013.01 comes into force on 1 January 2013.
IPONZ examiners will be using the new version for classifying applications accepted and published in Patent Office Journal in January 2013 onwards.
Searching published patents
Patents applied for prior to 1 January 2013 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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