United States
| Exemplary publ. no. | Code meaning |
| US 2003/0157684A1 | first publication of application |
| US 2004/0038291A2 | second or subsequent publication of application, requested by applicant |
| US 2004/0185440A9 | correction of error(s) in previous publication (either A1 or A2); error(s) made by USPTO |
| US 6,207,883B1 | patent which was not published as a patent application |
| US 6,791,013B2 | patent which was prior published as a patent application (US 2002/0068359 A1) |
| US 6,197,585C1 | re-examined patent; claims may be unchanged, amended or canceled; appear to only be published in Official Gazette (OG)re-exams are requested by applicant or third party |
| US RE038,571E1 | re-issued patent; claims may be broadened or narrowed; re-issuances are requested by applicant |
| US 2004/0177423P1 | first publication of plant patent application |
| US PP15,114P2 | plant patent which was not published as a patent application |
| US PPnn,nnnP3 | plant patent which was published as a patent application |
| Assigned code^ | Code meaning |
| “A” | patent |
| “B” | re-examined patent |
| “E” | re-issued patent |
| “P” | plant patent |
^ kind codes did not appear on the face of patents
Europe
Europe follows WIPO standard ST.50 for corrections.
| Exemplary publ no. | Code meaning |
| A1 | patent application published with the search report |
| A2 | patent application published without the search report |
| A3 | search report published with the front page (bibliometric data) of the application |
| A8 | correction of front page data of A1 or A2; only front page re-published |
| A9 | correction of application; complete reprint of document A1 or A2 or A3 |
| B1 | granted patent |
| B2 | amended specification (e.g., claims) of granted patent |
| B8 | correction of front page data of B1 or B2; only front page published |
| B9 | correction of application; |
| Wn* | indicates that the correction affects all types of media and products (electronic, paper, etc); a supplementary code used in combination with the original code (e.g., W1A1); number “n” indicates the number of corrections (e.g., 1 is first correction; 2 is second correction) |
*The “W” codes are printed on the front page of the document. As they are confusing, hypothetical examples follow:
- The following events occur in the order listed.
- A patent application is published as EP 999999 A1
- An error is discovered in the front page data.
- The front page is republished in paper and on CD as an A8 type of publication and the front page shows EP 999999 A8; in the field (15) Corrected information, the code W1A1 is shown.
- Errors are discovered in the claims.
- The entire specification is republished in paper and on CD as an A9 type and front page shows EP 999999 A9; in the field (15) Corrected information, the code W2A1 is shown.
WIPO (encompasses PCT applications)
An application filed at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) is published 18 months after the earliest related patent application is filed in the home country.
A Patent Examiner at the WIPO receiving office performs a prior art search and sends a search report to the applicant. The search report is also published, either as an attachment to the patent application document or separately – depending on whether or not the search report is ready at the time of publication of the application.
| Exemplary publ no. | Code meaning |
| WO 1999/001560 A1 | patent application published with the search report |
| WO 2001/073119 A2 | patent application published without the search report |
| WO 2001/073119 A3 | search report published with the front page (bibliometric data) of the application |
Republications
If an application is re-published to make corrections or amendments on the first page, in the body of application, or in the claims, the kind codes (A1, A2, A3) are appended with further designators.
Note that in the PCT Gazette (www.wipo.int/ipdl/en) publication of an A3 document is considered to be a republication and is marked as such in the results list.
A corrected application will have the mark CORRECTED VERSION at the top of the first page of the publication. It will also note on the front page where information can be found about the corrections. See for example, WO 2001/073119.
| Kind Codepre-June 2001 | Code meaning |
| A1L | an A1 application, republished with modified+ claims compared to the A1 |
| A1M | an A1 application, republished with modified first page or text |
| A2L | an A2 application, republished with modified claims compared to the A2 |
| A2M | an A2 application, republished with modified first page or text |
| A3M | an A3 search report, republished with modified front page |
+modified can mean that there are either amendments or corrections or both
After June 2001, the designators A1, A2, A3 are retained and an “R” code (from R1-R9) is appended. For example – A1 R1; A2 R6; etc)
These designators can be found in the IP Resource database output, but are not seen on the front page of the printed publication.
| Additional Kind Codepost-June 2001 | Code meaning |
| R1 | Amended claims |
| R2 | Additional search report |
| R3 | Revised search report |
| R4 | Late published search report |
| R5 | |
| R6 | Correction of text (e.g., corrected drawings) |
| R7 | |
| R8 | |
| R9 | Revised search report translation |