Standard ST.19

The indexes issued yearly/half‑yearly/quarterly by industrial property offices are of considerable importance to the users who wish to obtain rapid and reliable information on patents for invention, plant patents, inventors’ certificates, design patents, utility certificates, utility models as well as on the documents of addition thereto and on the published applications therefor.

The purpose of this Standard is to provide guidance to an industrial property office which has not so far issued indexes yearly/half‑yearly/quarterly, but which is planning to issue such ones in the future, as well as to an industrial property office which wishes to effect changes on the cumulative indexes issued by it so far, with a view to more efficient usability.

The indexes published at present and issued yearly/half‑yearly/quarterly by various industrial property offices show significant differences in their components even in the case of identical function, and for this reason they cannot be used with equal efficiency. Lack of standardization of indexes creates difficulties for those users not knowing the language of the index.

The main kinds of indexes are the following:

(a) document number index,

(b) classification index,

(c) alphabetic name index.

The different kinds of indexes published by the industrial property offices appear either in separate volumes or in a joint volume.

For the purpose of this Standard the expression “patent document” comprises patents for invention, plant patents, inventors’ certificates, design patents, utility certificates, utility models, documents of addition thereto and published applications therefor.

The document number index contains the publication numbers of the different kinds of patent documents in increasing numerical order. It is recommended that the main classification symbol is given. Other bibliographic data may optionally be given.

The classification index contains the publication numbers of the patent documents arranged according to the patent classification symbols allotted to them. It is recommended that the titles of patent documents as well as the names of applicants, inventors, or patentees be given. Other bibliographic data may be optionally given.

Classification indexes should contain references to different kinds of patent documents in a joint list in order to avoid the need for the user to consult too many lists. However, lists may be prepared for different kinds of patent documents if necessary.

In the classification index, patent documents with more than one classification symbol are given more than once. In such cases, the title of patent document or other bibliographic data at the place of the second, third, etc. classification symbol can be omitted but at the same time, cross‑references should be inserted in the main patent classification symbol where the title and other bibliographic data can be found.

The alphabetic name index contains the publication numbers of the patent documents in the alphabetic order of the names of the inventors, applicants or patentees. It is recommended to include the title of the patent document. Other bibliographic data, e.g., patent classification symbols, may optionally be given.

If a patent document has more than one inventor, applicant or patentee, the names of all of them should be included in the indexes indicating the publication numbers after each entry. The inclusion of other bibliographic data is recommended only once, e.g., at the first name given. Therefore cross‑references are needed.

The alphabetic name index should contain the names of the inventors, authors, applicants or patentees in a joint list in order to avoid the need for the user to consult too many lists. However, separate name indexes may be prepared for each kind of name if necessary.

The INID codes provided for in WIPO Standard ST.9 should be applied in the indexes to identify the bibliographic data. Since within the indexes the order of the bibliographic data is generally constant, it is possible that in the introduction to the index a representative entry giving the order of the bibliographic data included in the index should be given which includes the INID codes.

Use of the two‑letter country codes under WIPO Standard ST.3 is recommended to identify the countries and other entities which issue patent documents, even in cases where the names of the countries or other entities are given in natural language.

Where also the kinds of patent documents are indicated among the bibliographic data, use of the kind of document codes provided for in WIPO Standard ST.16 is recommended to identify them even when the kinds of patent documents are given in natural language.

For the identification of the contents and the composition of the different indexes the use of the codes given in WIPO Standard ST.17—established for the headings of the announcements of the Official Gazettes—is recommended even when the headings are given in natural language.

When compiling the indexes, WIPO Standard ST.20 (Recommendations for the Preparation of Name Indexes to Patent Documents) should be taken into consideration.

Besides the three main kinds of indexes specified in paragraph 4, it is recommended to issue other indexes e.g., an index giving a concordance between the application number and the publication number.

The Appendix to this Standard, "Survey of cumulative indexes published separately or in association with patent gazettes", has been moved to the Archives.

Attention is drawn to WIPO Standard ST.11 — Recommendation on the Minimum of Indexes to be Inserted in Patent Gazettes or Published in Association with Patent Gazettes, and document “Bibliographic Information in Patent Gazettes” (Part 7.6) which gives details of current indexes inserted in patent gazettes or published separately in association with patent gazettes.