One of the most significant and easily identifiable features of any patent document is the geographical coverage of patent protection. At this time, no "international patent" exists, therefore the front page of the patent document, containing the bibliographic data, must be reviewed to determine what geographical areas are included in any official patent protection conferred to the patent owner(s).

The INID Codes in the bibliographic portion of a patent document help to guide one to the applicable geographic regions, including the two-letter country designation of the Document Number. On WIPO patent documents, Designated national and regional States are specified at INID Codes 81 and 84.

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