The EPO has published new guideliness for searching IPC codes under IPC8, which went into force on Jan. 1. IPC8 is divided into “Core” and “Advanced” levels. The Core level will be updated every three years; the Advanced level is a dynamic system that will be continuously updated every three months or less. There are also new rules governing the assignment of IPC8 codes to invention and non-invention information disclosed in an application.

The EPO has made it possible to search IPC8 codes in esp@cenet using the following options:

• ci: selects IPC Core Invention
• cn: selects IPC Core Non Invention
• ai: selects IPC Advanced Invention
• an: selects IPC Advanced Non Invention
• c: selects IPC Core
• a: selects IPC Advanced