Competition in the technological marketplace is fierce, with companies constantly attempting to gain competitive advantages. Companies are often left with the options of buying or licensing patent rights or run the risk of becoming obsolete. However, buying and licensing patents also has risks and can end up costing large sums of money for relatively little return. Therefore, it is important that decision-makers have a general understanding of interpreting patents to better assess their relative strength.
Even though the cover sheet provides a lot of important information, the heart of a patent is its claims, the numbered sentences in the back of all issued patents. Claims outline the limits of patent protection and are interpreted in light of the specification that comes before it, along with the arguments that were made at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in getting the patent allowed. And that’s only part of the analysis. Under the new changes to the patent law under the America Invents Act, a patent is also limited in that it does not cover what was known by those having ordinary skill in the art of the invention prior to the filing of the patent application. (For patent applications filed before March 16, patents don’t cover what was known more than a year prior to when the invention was made. However, this is further limited by public uses or sales in the United States and publications or patents issued anywhere more than one year before the filing date.) A patent is further limited by the patent law and the opinions of the courts.
