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What Are Claims?
A ìpatent claimî is a very formally-worded sentence fragment contained in a patent application or
granted patent. Patent claims recite and define the scope of an invention in very precise,
logical, and exact terms. They serve to determine whether a patent application is patentable
over the prior art, or whether a granted patent is infringed.
Claims are written in one of two forms, either "independent" or "dependent".
Independent Claims
An independent claim is a self-contained description of the invention. It has three parts:
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a transitional clause; and |
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a body, which includes the elements of the claim. |
For example, consider the following independent claim:
Claim 1. (preamble) "A mousetrap .................. (transitional clause) comprising:
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a flat board (element 1); |
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a bomb (element 2) mounted to the board; and |
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means (element 3) for detonating the bomb in response to proximity of a mouse to the bomb. |
Dependent Claims
A dependent claim includes, by reference, everything set forth in a previous independent or
dependent claim, and adds to or modifies the description of the previous claim(s). For example:
Claim 2. (adding to the description) "A mousetrap according to claim 1, further comprising:
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means (element 4) for attracting a mouse into proximity with the bomb. |
-or-
Claim 3. (modifying the description) A mousetrap according to claim 2, wherein:
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the means for attracting the mouse is a piece of cheese mounted to the board. |
Apparatus Claims and Method Claims
The above are examples of apparatus claims which describe a device or an article of manufacture.
Claims can also be directed to processes, or methods. For example:
Claim 4. A method of destroying mice, comprising:
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attracting a mouse into proximity with a bomb; |
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detecting the proximity of the mouse with the bomb; and |
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blowing the mouse to kingdom come when it is in proximity with the bomb. |
Claim 4 is an independent method claim. There can, of course, also be dependent method claims.
Summary
That's it for the basics:
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Independent and Dependent Claims. |
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Method and Apparatus claims. |
There are also:
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"means plus function" claims, |
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"Beauregard" claims, |
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"Markush" claims, |
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"product by process" claims, |
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etc., etc., etc. |
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| - Patents - | |
| |  | Application Basics | | | | | | | | | | |
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