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All UK patent applications are classified to the IPC. The office does not reclassify documents. Since 2005 the office has also classified patent applications to ECLA and subsequently CPC from November 2013.
Pre-Classification is done manually at an administrative level in accordance with CPC subclasses, which provides the basis for the structure of examining divisions and groups.
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A collection of historical documents is located at our Newport office and maintained by the Documentation Unit. The available collections include: historical GB abridgements/abstracts (including Bennet-Woodcroft); historical copies of the UK Key and IPC; various pamphlets, manuals and other publications; law reports; name and subject-matter indexes for locating old historic patents; and historical official journals of the UK (Patent and Designs Journal) and of the EPO. Much of this information is also available on the office Intranet. The collections are located in our main building and are therefore secure.
Our main office is located in Newport, Wales, where the public can obtain official publications and conduct searches using Espacenet for example. In addition we also have a front office in London where customers can file applications.
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Nothing further to report.
A
ssistance Assistance to developing countries
The Intellectual Property Office continues to have a programme of cooperation with various countries, including a number of developing countries. In 2012 and 2013, the Search and Advisory Service carried out respectively 17 and 27 free patent searches for WIPO under the programme of Patent Information Services for Developing Countries. However, for unknown reasons, no such requests for patent searches were made in 2014.
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