Chapter §16.01 Introduction

• Jurisdiction: United States

§16.01 Introduction

Well-established case law provides that the analysis for patent infringement involves two steps.¹ The first step is interpretation of the claims of the patent in suit, as detailed in Chapter 15 of this treatise.

The second step of the patent infringement analysis is the topic of this chapter. Step two involves comparison; that is, it requires that each limitation of the properly interpreted claim be met in the accused device, either literally or equivalently.

Although referred to in some earlier decisions as the "all-elements" rule, this doctrine is more properly termed the "all-limitations" rule.² Infringement cannot be determined by comparing the claimed and accused devices as a whole; the analysis must be performed on a claim limitation-by-claim limitation level.³

Each limitation of a patent claim is material. If even a single claim limitation is not met in the accused device...