Patent Claim Construction

Patent Claim Construction Patent claims, found at the end of patent specification, provide the negative rights to prevent others from making, using, or selling the patented invention.  More specifically, patent claims provide the subject matter that the inventor regards as the patentable invention.  In litigation, patent attorneys from both sides regularly dispute the construction of the patent claims.  One dispute centers around the alleged indefiniteness of the patent claim(s).  The patent statutes require that the patentee describe the scope of the claims in sufficiently definite detail to inform the public of the bounds of the protection of the patentable invention.  Courts will attempt to define the patent claims whenever the patent claims are amendable to patent claim construction.  In other words, simply because it may be difficult to define the patent claims does not render the patent claims indefinite.   The key is that […]