Interpretation of a Numerical Range in a Patent Claim: The Understanding of a Skilled Person
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Volume 11, Issue 5, 1 May 2016, Pages 333–338, doi/10.1093/jiplp/jpw028
Posted: 7 Nov 2017
Date Written: June 8, 2016
Abstract
The Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office, as well as the competent national courts, is often charged with the task of clarifying ambiguities in the precision of a particular range boundary in the patent claim. This article formulates three rules of thumb that help determine the precision of a range boundary from the perspective of a skilled person.
Keywords: scope of patent protection, patent, patent claim, patent claim interpretation, numerical range, numerical range in the claim, infringement
JEL Classification: K11, K21, K41, K33, K22, K23
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