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Category Codes
Examiners for European (EP) and Patent Cooperation Treaty (WO) patents may
assign relevance indicators to the references that they cite. These indicators
are called category codes and tell you how relevant the Examiner
considers the citation to be in relation to the patent claims.
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Code
|
Definition
|
X
|
EP - Particularly relevant if taken alone
WO - Document of particular relevance, the claimed invention cannot be
considered novel or cannot be considered to involve an inventive step
|
Y
|
EP - Particularly relevant if combined with another document of the same
category
WO - Document of particular relevance, the claimed invention cannot be
considered to involve an inventive step when the document is combined with one
or more such documents, such combination being obvious to a person skilled in
the art
|
A
|
Technology background
|
O
|
Non-written disclosure
|
P
|
EP - intermediate document
WO - Published prior to the international filing date but later than the
priority date claimed
|
T
|
Theory or principle underlying the invention
|
E
|
Earlier patent document but published on, or after, the filing date
|
D
|
Document cited in the application
|
L
|
Document cited for other reasons
|
&
|
Member of the same patent family, corresponding document
|
|
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Did You Know ...
The definition of the codes may vary by patent-issuing authority.
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