Claims are the essential part of a patent that precisely defines the scope of legal protection sought and granted to an invention after it has been issued. They describe the technical elements considered to be new, inventive, and capable of industrial application, thereby defining what the patent holder can prohibit third parties from using, manufacturing, or marketing.
Claims play a central role in the patent system:
- They determine the exclusive scope of protection, serving as a reference in the event of a dispute based on infringement.
- They must be drafted with precision and clarity, as any ambiguity or imprecision may reduce the scope of the patent or make its protection questionable.
- It is not uncommon for their wording to evolve during the examination process to consider a relevant document or to respond to an objection raised by the examiner.
Claims generally include at least one independent claim, which stands alone and relates to the invention as such, and several dependent claims, which specify optional aspects of the invention and must be interpreted considering their dependence. While it is not uncommon for a patent application to have a single independent claim and a plurality of dependent claims, in some cases, the patent or patent application may have several independent claims. To do so, the independent claims must be linked to a common inventive concept and may be of different types, such as device, use, process, and composition claims.
Thus, the claims constitute the strategic core of the patent, both for legal protection and for the commercial exploitation of the invention. It is therefore essential that they be drafted with care and by persons experienced in the language of patents.