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Classification systems
Industrial property classification systems are designed to organise or retrieve industrial property records or documents. They are used in particular when carrying out patent, trade mark or design searches.
Classification systems allow the classification of inventions, technical solutions, designations of goods and services or designs, or patents, utility models, trade marks or registered designs into indexed, systematically organised areas to assist users of industrial law information in locating and processing documents and data relating to the protection of industrial property objects using technical and bibliographic data.
The symbols of classification systems are listed by most countries and organizations on the cover sheets of patent documents, in gazettes and in databases as one of the technical bibliographic data to be used for searching when conducting patent, trademark or design searches. By regular updating, classification systems are adapted to changes taking place in all fields of technology and in commercial practices or articles.
Classification systems are divided into three basic types - patent (also applicable to utility models), trademark (for goods and services and for figurative elements of trademarks) and design (for external modifications of products). For more detailed information on their content, structure and related matters, see the pages on information on specific types of classification systems. Links to the relevant pages on specific types of classification systems are provided on the right-hand side of this page as related links.
Classification systems used by the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic:
- International Patent Classification
- International Classification of Goods and Services
- International Classification of Figurative Elements of Trade Marks
- International Classification of Designs
Please note: Some older editions of the classification systems available on the Office's website, together with the current editions, are based on older technologies and made available in a form that does not comply with the applicable standards for public administration systems and is not covered by the accessibility statement of the website of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic. The Office retains the possibility of public access to these editions for practical and historical reasons (e.g. different search system than in the current editions) and is not responsible for their possible non-functionality or inaccessibility by the user with current technologies. Searching for sorting symbols in older editions and working with these editions can be useful for both advanced and novice users, as a convenient complement to the use of official information sources. Older editions of grading systems are not a substitute for current editions, which can be accessed from the links provided earlier on this page.