On Patent Protection Scope

As technology has become the core drive of economy, the importance of the patent law to a country's economic development is obvious. Invention is protected by the patent law by way of granting an exclusive right (patent right) to an inventor for a certain period of time. And the protection scope of a patent right is of great importance to both the patent holder and the public.The protection scope of a patent right is determined by the patent claim, while the patent claim consists of technical features. To determine the protection scope of a certain patent right, the patent claim shall be interpreted first. This article is based on the concepts that closely relevant to the protection scope of a patent right, such as patent claim, technical feature and patent claim interpretation, and draws several conclusions through prudent analysis of such concepts.Patent claim is a legal document that determines the protection scope of a patent right by recording the technical features of the invention that an inventor claims to be protected by law. Technical feature refers to an independent technical unit that is part of the protected invention and recorded in a patent claim. Interpretation of a patent claim shall be carried out in accordance with certain rules, and requires the use of certain reference materials; and to properly interpret some special types of patent claims, more cautions shall be paid to make sure that the interests of the patent owner and that of the public are in balance.