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4 posts
foundwonder
Last seen: 10/18/2023 - 01:42
Joined: 08/10/2021 - 02:38
Missing CPC codes for re-issued patents

Hi PatentsView team,

I've noticed when I query re-issued patents from the API, their CPC codes returned "null." For instance, the following query returns "null" for CPC codes.

https://api.patentsview.org/patents/query?q={"patent_number":"RE30242"}&f=["cpc_subgroup_id"]

However, when I searched these patents on patft.uspto.gov, they have valid CPC codes. The patent in the query above has CPC codes F25B 13/00 (20130101); F25B 39/00 (20130101).

Thanks!

Sat, 08/28/2021 - 11:29
Russ
Last seen: 03/21/2024 - 09:05
Joined: 11/14/2017 - 22:15
problem with the source

foundwonder,

The problem is with the source, US_Grant_CPC_MCF_XML*.zip on https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/data/patent/classification/cpc.  It only has cpc assignments for utility patents.  I mentioned this to the uspto and was told, "No, the USPTO does not have a bulk data CPC file for plant and reissue patents."

cpc assignments can change over time as classifications are added or combined.  The api could scrape the at-issue cpcs from the bulk xml but they could change later.

It's especially bad for plant patents, some get cpcs but they are not available in the bulk file.  Here's a patft query that currently shows 14,639 plant patents have a cpc assignment of A01H5/02. In my research I've found that about 50% of plant patents have one or more cpc assignment, yet this data is not available in bulk, so it's not part of the patentsview data.

Additionally, all plant patents are still assigned uspcs but the bulk file for them hasn't been updated since May, 2018. (see mcfcls.zip on https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/data/patent/classification/).  This means that here is no way to search in patatentsview by a classification system for plant patents issued after mid 2018. 

Hopefully the patentsview team will be able to get this data from the uspto.  Then the api could return cpcs for plant and reissued patents.

Russ

Sat, 08/28/2021 - 13:47
foundwonder
Last seen: 10/18/2023 - 01:42
Joined: 08/10/2021 - 02:38
Hi Russ, Thank you very…

Hi Russ,

Thank you very much for your answer! I appreciate it. Then I think I'lll have to drop reissue patents from my research for now.

Regarding plant patents, besides CPC and USPC, would IPC help with searching? Based on my understanding, IPC probably still works with plant patents. For example, I tried the following query and it returns valid results.

https://api.patentsview.org/patents/query?q={"_and":[{"ipc_section":"A"},{"ipc_class":"01"},{"ipc_subclass":"h"},{"patent_type":"plant"}]}&f=["patent_number","patent_title","app_date"]

Sat, 08/28/2021 - 18:39
Russ
Last seen: 03/21/2024 - 09:05
Joined: 11/14/2017 - 22:15
no ipc bulk source

I don't think there is a bulk source for IPCs, so what's in the patentsview database would be their at-issue values.  There have been changes in IPCs over time so not all the patents are categorized under the same version.  I would use patft to do any classification searches.  

In my original reply I should have mentioned that design patents still get uspc assignments so ones issued since mid 2018 are missing them in the patentsview database, since the uspto hasn't updated the bulk file of them.  

Russ