More on Meaningful Patents

Meaningful patent protection means a patent that provides substantial protection:

• Extent of patent protection identified in the claims.

• The claims are found at the end of the patent.

• The claims recite strings of elements.

• The claims cover items that have each recited element.

• Broad patent claims have few elements.

• Broad patent claims have no unessential elements.

• Broad patent claims provide meaningful patent protection.

• Narrow patent claims have lots of elements.

• Narrow patent claims have unessential elements.

• Narrow patent claims provide no meaningful patent protection.

Warning - a dependent claim (one that refers to a preceding claim) includes all elements recited in the referenced claim or claims.

Example - patent claim recites 'a chair having four legs supporting a seating platform'.

• The claim covers all four-legged chairs even if they have other features such as a back rest and arm rests, because they have all recited elements.

• The claim does not cover a three-legged stool, because it does not have four legs.

Example - patent claim recites 'a chair having at least three legs supporting a seating platform and a back rest'.

• The claim covers all four-legged chairs with back rests, regardless of their extra features.

• The claim does not cover four-legged chairs without back rests.

• The claim covers a three-legged stool only if the stool has a back rest.

• The claim does not cover a single-leg (pedestal) stool even if it has a back rest because it does not have at least three legs.

Warning - if a claim recites an unnecessary element, competitors can avoid infringement merely by omitting that unnecessary element from their product.

other topics - patent infringement, patent applications, patent ready, or patent it or not
 

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