Summary of "Lecture 12: Roadmap for patent creation - Terminologies and codes used in a patent document"

Purpose

Explain the common codes and terminology found on patent documents so you can identify:

the issuing jurisdiction/authority,
the document type or status (application, granted patent, corrected page, amended claims, etc.), and
key bibliographic fields using INID numbers.

Big picture

Patent front pages typically use three coordinated systems:

Two-letter country/authority codes (which indicate the issuing office).
Document “kind” codes (one- or two-letter/number suffixes that indicate document type or status).
INID numbers (internationally agreed numeric tags for bibliographic fields).

Kind codes vary by office but generally follow WIPO-guidelines and are widely used across authorities.

Main concepts and examples

Country / authority codes (two letters)

Common codes:

EP — European Patent (EPO)
CN — China
US — United States (USPTO)
DE — Germany
CH — Switzerland
JP — Japan
KR — Korea
WO — PCT / WIPO international application

Document (kind) codes

Kind codes indicate the publication type or stage. Meanings can differ between offices; below are commonly used examples.

General

A — application/publication
B — granted patent (varies by office)

China (CN)

CN A — unexamined application published for public inspection
CN B / CN C — granted patent (terminology may vary; check CN references)

WIPO / PCT (WO)

WO A1 — international application published WITH international search report
WO A2 — international application published WITHOUT international search report
WO A3 — subsequent publication of the international search report
WO B1 — publication containing amended claims (based on the international search report)
WO A8 — modified first page (bibliographic changes)
WO A9 — fully corrected document

European Patent Office (EP / EPO)

EP A1 — application publication WITH search report
EP A2 — application publication WITHOUT search report
EP A3 — publication of a search report
EP A8 — corrected title page of an EP A document
EP B2 — patent after opposition or modification
EP B8 — corrected front page of an EP B document

USPTO

The USPTO uses kind codes (e.g., A1, B1, etc.), but exact mappings and details should be checked on USPTO references or slides provided by the instructor.

Note: Always confirm ambiguous codes with the issuing office’s documentation — small differences exist between authorities.

INID numbers (international numeric identifiers)

Purpose: numeric tags on the front page used to identify bibliographic fields consistently across jurisdictions.

Examples mentioned:

54 = Title of the invention
57 = Abstract (transcript was ambiguous: “abstract or a claim”)
Other INID numbers referenced: 51, 72, 71 — these correspond to other bibliographic fields (e.g., classification, inventor, applicant); consult the INID list for exact mappings.

INID numbers are standardized and used uniformly across USPTO, EPO, WIPO, etc.

Practical exercise / methodology

Follow these steps using a patent document (e.g., the one used earlier in your course):

Prepare
- Open the same patent document you used previously (the one used to learn patent front-page parts).
Identify INID numbers
- Look at the first (bibliographic) page.
- Find INID numbers (for example: 54, 57, 51, 72, 71).
- Cross-check each INID number against the INID list to determine the bibliographic field (title, abstract, inventor, applicant, classification, etc.).
Identify the kind/document code
- Locate the kind code appended to the country/authority code (e.g., EP A1, WO A1, CN C, US B1).
- Using the relevant office’s kind-code definitions, determine whether the document is an application publication, a granted patent, a corrected page, an amended-claims publication, etc.
Compare across authorities
- Note that INID codes remain the same across jurisdictions.
- Recognize that kind codes and their exact meanings can differ; use official WIPO/EPO/USPTO lists to resolve ambiguity.

Outcome: After this exercise you should be able to read a patent front page and quickly determine jurisdiction, document type/status, and bibliographic fields.

Additional points and practical tips

Kind codes are status/format indicators — they tell you the prosecution stage and whether bibliographic pages were corrected or claims amended.
Many offices follow WIPO guidance, but always confirm specifics with the issuing office’s documentation.
For PCT (WO) documents, the presence or absence of the international search report (A1 vs A2 vs A3) is important for assessing file history.

Speakers / sources referenced

Course lecturer / module instructor (unnamed)
Organizations/systems referenced:
- WIPO / PCT (World Intellectual Property Organization) — WO codes
- European Patent Office (EPO) — EP codes
- United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — US kind codes
- Chinese patent office — CN codes
- Other referenced country codes: DE (Germany), CH (Switzerland), JP (Japan), KR (Korea)