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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.

Published 24 October 2026 · Last reviewed 24 October 2026 · MPA Business Services

What the numbers are

INID stands for Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of (bibliographic) Data. They are defined by WIPO Standard ST.9 and printed in brackets on the front page of every patent document, application, grant and SPC publication, by every office that follows the standard, which is all the ones that matter. The label next to a number may be in Polish or Japanese; the number means the same thing everywhere. Learn fifteen of them and any patent document is readable.

(19) Europäisches Patentamt · European Patent Office · Office européen des brevets

(11) EP 2 345 678 B1

(11): Publication number; Publication number: EP 2 345 678 B1
(12): Kind of document; Kind of document: EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION
(45): Grant published; Grant published: 03.07.2019
(21): Application number; Application number: 11 760 123.4
(22): Date of filing; Date of filing: 14.09.2011
(43): Application published; Application published: 27.06.2012
(30): Priority; Priority: GB 1015678 · 16.09.2010 (31)(32)(33)
(51): Int. Cl.; Int. Cl.: A61K 31/44 · A61P 3/10
(54): Title; Title: Substituted pyridine derivatives and their use in the treatment of diabetes
(73): Proprietor; Proprietor: Example Pharma AG, Basel (CH)
(72): Inventors; Inventors: MUSTERMANN, Erika; SMITH, John
(74): Representative; Representative: Example & Partners, London (GB)
(84): Designated contracting states; Designated contracting states: AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR
(56): References cited; References cited: WO-A-2005/012345 · EP-A-1 234 567

(57) Abstract · (13) B1 = granted patent, first publication of the specification

Illustrative front page of a granted European patent with invented details. The bracketed numbers are INID codes (WIPO Standard ST.9); they are the same on every office's documents, whatever the language, which is what makes a Polish, German or Japanese document readable without reading the labels.

The codes that set exclusivity dates

Code	Meaning	Why it matters
(22)	Date of filing	The twenty-year term runs from here
(30)	Priority data: (31) priority application number, (32) priority date, (33) priority country	The earliest date; novelty is judged at it; filing is at most 12 months later
(43)	Publication date of the unexamined application (the A-document)	When the claims became public; 18 months from priority
(45)	Publication date of the granted patent (the B-document)	When the right became enforceable
(84)	Designated contracting states under a regional convention (the EPC)	Where the European patent could be validated; not where it is in force
(81)	Designated states under the PCT	Same idea for international applications
(62)	Earlier application from which this one was divided	A divisional shares its parent’s filing date, so expires the same day
(94)	Calculated expiry date of the SPC, or its duration	The date a product opens up, where an SPC exists

The full list, grouped

(10) Identification of the document

(11) number of the document (patent or publication number)
(12) plain-language designation of the kind of document (“European patent specification”)
(13) kind-of-document code (A1, B1 and so on, under Standard ST.16)
(15) correction information
(19) office or organisation publishing the document (two-letter code under ST.3: EP, GB, DE, WO)

(20) Domestic filing data

(21) application number
(22) date of filing
(23) other dates, such as a date of exhibition
(24) date from which industrial property rights may have effect
(25) language in which the application was filed
(26) language in which it is published

(30) Priority data

(31) number of the priority application
(32) date of filing of the priority application
(33) office or country of the priority application
(34) regional or international priority application data

(40) Dates of making available to the public

(41) unexamined document made available, no grant
(42) examined document made available, no grant
(43) publication date of an unexamined application (EP A1/A2)
(44) examined document, no grant yet
(45) publication date of the granted patent (EP B1)
(46) publication of claims only
(47) publication by printing of the granted document
(48) corrected document

(50) Technical information

(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)
(52) domestic or national classification
(54) title
(56) list of prior-art documents cited
(57) abstract or claim
(58) field of search

(60) References to other legally related domestic documents

(61) patent of addition
(62) earlier application from which this one has been divided (divisional)
(63) continuation (a United States concept)
(64) reissue
(65) previously published document on the same application
(66) application replaced by this one
(67) utility model
(68) for an SPC: number of the basic patent, or of its publication

(70) Parties

(71) applicant
(72) inventor
(73) grantee, owner, proprietor
(74) attorney, agent or representative
(75) inventor who is also the applicant
(76) inventor who is also the applicant and the grantee

(80) and (90) International conventions and SPC data

(81) designated states under the PCT
(83) deposit of a micro-organism
(84) designated contracting states under a regional convention (EPC, EAPC, ARIPO, OAPI)
(85) date of commencement of the national phase of a PCT application
(86) PCT application number and filing date
(87) PCT publication number and date
(88) date of deferred publication of the search report
(91) date on which a PCT application failed to enter the national or regional phase
(92) number and date of the first national authorisation to market the product
(93) number and date of the first authorisation in a regional economic community (the EU/EEA)
(94) calculated date of expiry of the SPC, or its duration
(95) name of the product protected by the basic patent, for which the SPC was applied for or granted
(96) regional application number and filing date (the European application behind the SPC)
(97) regional publication number and date

Kind codes, briefly

The letter after the number says what stage the document is at. For European documents: A1 application published with the search report, A2 without it (the report follows as A3), A4 supplementary search report, B1 granted patent, B2 specification after opposition, B3 after limitation. A document with no B publication was never granted. National offices use the same letters with their own nuances (a GB “A” is the application, “B” the grant; a German “B4” is an examined grant, “T2” the translation of a European patent).

Reading an SPC publication

An SPC notice in a national gazette typically shows (21) the SPC application number, (22) its filing date, (68) the basic patent, (95) the product, (92) and (93) the authorisations with their dates, and (94) the expiry date. Where (93) is a centralised authorisation, the date that should appear is the notification date, not the Commission’s decision date; an older certificate may still show the decision date, which is why some expiry dates have been corrected by a few days.

MPA Search records these fields for each patent and SPC by country, keyed to the molecule, so the codes are read once, in the collection, and the dates come out aligned.