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901.04(a) Kind Codes - 900 Prior Art, Classification, Search

901.04(a) Kind Codes

On January 2, 2001, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began printing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standard ST.16 code on each of its published patent documents. WIPO Standard ST.16 codes (kind codes) include a letter, and in many cases a number, used to distinguish the kind of patent document (e.g., publication of an application for a utility patent (patent application publication), utility patent, plant patent application publication, plant patent, or design patent) and the level of publication (e.g., first publication, second publication, or corrected publication). Detailed information on Standard ST.16 and the use of kind codes by patent offices throughout the world is available on the WIPO web site at http://www.wipo.int/scit/en under the links for WIPO standards and other documentation.

In addition, some kind codes assigned to existing USPTO patent documents were changed because, beginning on March 15, 2001, patent application publications began to be published weekly on Thursdays.

The tables below give a summary of the kind codes which are no longer being used on certain published patent documents as well as a summary of the kind codes which will be used on published patent documents after January 2, 2001. It is recommended that USPTO documents be identified by the following three elements: (A) the two-character country code (US for United States of America); (B) the patent or publication number; and (C) the WIPO ST.16 kind code. For example, "US 7,654,321 B1" for U.S. Patent No. 7,654,321 where there was no previously-published patent application publication, and "US 2003/1234567 A1" for U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/1234567, in 2003. Each year the numbering of published patent applications will begin again with the new four digit year and the number 0000001, so the number of a patent application publication must include an associated year.

Summary of USPTO Kind Codes No Longer Used as of January 2, 2001*
WIPO ST.16 Kind Codes	Kind of document	Comments
A	Patent	Kind code replaced by B1 or B2
P	Plant Patent	Kind code replaced by P2 or P3
B1, B2, B3...	Reexamination Certificate	Kind code replaced by C1, C2, C3...

*See the table below for the new uses for codes B1 and B2 beginning January 2, 2001.

Summary of USPTO Kind Codes Used on Documents Published Beginning January 2, 2001
WIPO ST.16 Kind Codes	Kind of document	Comments
A1	Patent Application Publication	Pre-grant publication available March 2001
A2	Patent Application Publication (Republication)	Pre-grant publication available March 2001
A9	Patent Application Publication (Corrected Publication)	Pre-grant publication available March 2001
B1	Patent	No previously published pre-grant publication
B2	Patent	Having a previously published pre-grant publication and available March 2001
C1, C2, C3, ...	Rexamination Certificate	Previously used codes B1 and B2 are now used for granted Patents
E	Reissue Patent	No change
H	Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)	No change
P1	Plant Patent Publication Application	Pre-grant publication available March 2001
P2	Plant Patent	No previously published pre-grant publication
P3	Plant Patent	Having a previously published pre-grant publication and available March 2001
P4	Plant Patent Application Publication (Republication)	Pre-grant publication available after March 2001
P9	Plant Patent Application Publication (Corrected Publication)	Pre-grant publication available March 2001
S	Design Patent	No change

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