By Donald Zuhn —

On February 4, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office announced that the two offices had reached agreement on the principles of a new joint patent classification system known as the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC).  The desire to develop a joint classification system was first announced last fall (see "USPTO and EPO to Develop Joint Patent Classification System").

The agreement on the CFC, which will be co-managed by the USPTO and EPO, was reached following meetings at the USPTO from November 29 to December 1, 2010, and at the EPO from January 24-26, 2011.  The joint classification system is based on the International Patent Classification (IPC) system, which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and will use the European Classification system (ECLA) as a foundation onto which the best aspects of the USPTO classification system will be incorporated.