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Glossary

Terms used across the site, defined plainly.

Also in Guides: Explainers (24) · Prices (7) · News: Case notes (11) · Regulatory changes (3)

• Start here · 6 min read · Reviewed 24 October 2026

  What the fields in a patent or SPC record mean: priority, filing, publication, grant, designated states, status and the dates that matter

  A patent register entry is a dozen dates and codes, and only two of them decide when a product opens up. Each field defined plainly, with what it is used for commercially, the status words that mean the right has gone, and the SPC fields that sit alongside.

• 4 min read · Reviewed 24 October 2026

  The numbers on a patent document: INID codes explained

  Every patent and SPC document carries small bracketed numbers next to its data: (22) is the filing date, (30) the priority, (84) the designated states, (92) to (97) the SPC authorisation details. They are the same in every country and language. The full list, with the ones that matter for exclusivity dates marked.

• 6 min read · Reviewed 24 October 2026

  Country codes and the registers behind them: the 32 countries, their abbreviations, patent offices, medicines agencies and currencies

  The two-letter codes on patent documents, licence numbers and price lists, for every country MPA covers: EU or not, which office grants patents and SPCs, which agency licenses medicines, which currency the prices are in, and the special codes (EP, WO, EU, XI) that are not countries at all.