The International Patent Classification (IPC) is a result of the arisen need for using the same system for the classification of patent documents in patent offices of different countries, in order to facilitate their use for performing searches through patent documents.

To date, the IPC has had eight editions (1971, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2006).

The eight edition of the IPC entered into force on 1 January 2006. IPC 8 translated to Serbian is available through our website.

In the Instructions for the Use of the IPC an attempt was made to explain, in easily comprehensible terms and through examples, how the IPC should be used for the classification and search of patent documents.

Additional assistance in the use of the IPC can be obtained from the Catchword Index (a registry of key words), which is published in English and French, as well as in other languages.