903.02(a) New and Revised Classes [R-5]
The establishment of new classes or subclasses and the revision of old classes are done under the guidance of the Technology Center classification contact, as follows:
- (A) The staff performing the reclassification develops an arrangement of documents which is satisfactory for searching;
- (B) The definition of the new class or revised class is written or modified;
- (C) The lines between the class and other classes are drawn up;
- (D) The subclass definitions are established and definitions of all revised classes and subclasses are included in the classification orders; and
- (E) The Index of the U.S. Classification System and the Classification Data System files are updated.
Notification of the new class or subclass is published in a classification order. Copies of classification orders are available online to USPTO personnel from the Classification Home Page under the heading Classification Reports. The Classification Home Page (http://ptoweb:8081/) is accessible from the desktop via the Patent Examiner’s Toolkit.