The claims define the scope of protection of a patent

The claims are the most important part of a patent. Not the title, not the text, not the examples, and not the figures.

It is the claims that define the boundaries of the patent owner's rights. Importantly, the patent owner's rights are exclusionary: she may exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing the patented invention (e.g., a product or a process) and importing a product made by a process patented in the importing country. To determine if someone is infringing a patent (that is, making or using the invention) without the patent owner's permission, the allegedly infringing product or process is compared only to the claims of the patent.

Don't fall into the trap of concluding that the title or the abstract or the general description found in the text of the patent indicates what is patented. For example, United States Patent No. 6074877 is titled "Process for transforming monocotyledonous plants". From the title, it sounds like these patent owners have protected a transformation process(es) for transforming all monocot plants. Examination of the claims shows, however, that only transformation of cereal plants is protected, and furthermore, that the method involves wounding an embryogenic callus or treating an embryogenic callus with an enzyme that degrades cell walls prior to transferring DNA into the cells with Agrobacterium. This is a bit different than what the title implied.

Yet, claims cannot to be interpreted in a vacuum. Although claims define the invention, the scope of the claimed invention is not always clear from reading the plain language of the claim. Claim interpretation can be difficult; in the United States, a proper analysis is done by reading the claims in the context of the specification and in the context of the "prosecution history" (the back and forth communications between the patent applicant and the patent office regarding the claim language). 

Claims in this report were analysed by looking at the language of the claims themselves and the specification. The prosecution history was not examined. Thus, scope of the claimed inventions may not have always been precisely determined. 

The information contained in this page was believed to be correct at the time it was collated. New patents and patent applications, altered status of patents, and case law may have resulted in changes in the landscape. CAMBIA makes no warranty that it is correct or up to date at this time and accepts no liability for any use that might be made of it. Corrections or updates to the information are welcome. Please send an email to info@bios.net.

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