What is the Strasbourg Agreement?
The Strasbourg Agreement is the legal foundation of the creation and revision of the International Patent Classification. On March 24, 1971, the Diplomatic Conference adopted the Strasbourg (IPC) Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, which on that date was signed by 15 States. Following that the International (European) Classification of Patents for Inventions became the de facto first edition of the IPC. The Strasbourg Agreement entered into force in 1975. At present (March 2002) the Strasbourg Union has 52 member states. The administration of the IPC revision is done by the World Intellectual Property Organization. For more details about the history of IPC see http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en/ipc/ipc_25/chapter1.htm.
The Strasbourg Agreement is the legal foundation of the creation and revision of the IPC. On March 24, 1971, the Diplomatic Conference adopted the Strasbourg (IPC) Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, which on that date was signed by 15 States. Following that, the International (European) Classification of Patents for Inventions became de facto the 1 st edition of the IPC. The Strasbourg Agreement entered into force in 1975. The members to the Strasbourg Agreement constitute the Special Union of the IPC.
