This post was first published on 4th November, 2011. One of the strategies adopted by the examiner/searcher while performing a prior art search is to identify the classification of the invention's subject matter. Patent classification is a way by which a patent office arranges identical or similar patent documents. A patent document can be classified in several classes. There are numerous patent classification systems available across the world such as International Patent Classification (IPC), United States Patent Classification (USPC), European…