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In a patent or patent application, the claims define, in technical terms, the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define which subject-matter is protected by the patent (or sought to be protected by the patent application). This is termed the "notice function" of a patent claim--to warn others of what they must not do if they are to avoid infringement liability.〔 See, e.g., ''PSC Computer Prods., Inc. v. Foxconn Int’l, Inc.'', 355 F.3d 1353, 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2004) ("One important purpose of the written description is to provide notice to the public as to the subject matter of the patent, while the claim provides notice as to the scope of the invention."). See also ''Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc.'', 572 U.S. __, 134 S. Ct. 2120 (2014) ("To tolerate imprecision just short of that rendering a claim 'insolubly ambiguous' would diminish the definiteness requirement’s public-notice function and foster the innovation-discouraging 'zone of uncertainty' (omitted ) against which this Court has warned."); ''McClain v. Ortmayer'', 141 U.S. 419, 424 (1891) (a patent claim must be precise and clear enough to give the public clear notice of what is claimed, thereby "appris() the public of what is still open to them").〕 The claims are of the utmost importance both during prosecution and litigation alike. For instance, a claim could read: * "An apparatus for catching mice, said apparatus comprising a base, a spring member coupled to the base, and ..." * "A chemical composition for cleaning windows, said composition substantially consisting of 10–15% ammonia, ..." * "Method for computing future life expectancies, said method comprising gathering data including X, Y, Z, analyzing the data, comparing the analyzed data results..." == Background == In most jurisdictions, a patent is a right to exclude others from making, using, importing, selling or offering for sale the subject matter defined by the claims when the claim is for a thing (apparatus, composition of matter, system, etc.). If a claim is for a method, the right to exclude would be to exclude any single party from carrying out all the steps of the claim. In order to exclude someone from using a patented invention, the patent owner, or patentee, needs to demonstrate in a court proceeding that what the other person is using falls within the scope of a claim of the patent; therefore, it is more valuable to obtain claims that include the minimal set of limitations that differentiate an invention over what came before (''i.e.,'' the so-called prior art). But the fewer the limitations in a claim, the more likely it is that the claim will cover, or "read on," what came before and be rejected during examination or found to be invalid at a later time for lack of novelty or obviousness. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Patent claim」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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