Glossary

• Author: Ronald D. Slusky
• Pages: 359-361

Glossary

This glossary will be of interest principally to inventors or other non-

patent practitioners who may pick up this book. Patent practitioners

are already intimately familiar with the terms herein, with the possible

exceptions of the terms “claim family” and “claim suite” and the book’s

somewhat unconventional use of the term “prior art” as encompassing

subject matter defined by both 35 U.S.C. 102 and 35 U.S.C. 103.

Terms in italics are terms defined in the glossary itself.

Anticipated Said of a claim that reads on the prior art. A claim that is

anticipated will be either unpatentable or invalid.

BroadSaid of a claim with relatively few limitations, thereby causing the

claim to encompass a wider range of implementations of the inventive

concept. Such a claim is said to be of broad “scope.” (Compare with narrow.)

Claim A single sentence, arranged in one or more paragraphs, de ning

what a patent owner has exclusive rights to. (See infringement.)

Claim FamilySet of claims consisting of one independent claim and all of its

dependent claims.

Claim SuiteEntire set of claims in a patent—that is, the collection of all of

its claim families.

Dependent ClaimA claim that refers to another dependent or independent

claim (parent) in such a way as to incorporate the parent’s limitation into

this claim.

Embodiment Method, apparatus, or composition of matter that imple-

ments the inventive concept.

Inde nite ClaimClaim having one or more limitations that render it not

possible to determine with reasonable certainty when the claim would be

infringed.

Independent ClaimA claim that does not refer to, and thus does not

incorporate the limitations of, any other claim.

Infringed, InfringementA claim is infringed when an accused method,

apparatus, or composition of matter meets every limitation in the claim. A

patent is infringed when at least one of its claims is infringed.

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