The Interpretation Of Patent Claim

Patent protects a technology program, and it is different with the visible, the scope of protection of patent can not be sensed directly, the scope of protection of patent must be determined firstly, to that end, the modern patent system design a mechanism of the patent claim. The words in the patent claim describe the scope of patent protection, but the words have more meaning and ambiguity, and for the words of expressing sometimes do not match technical means one to one, there is a need to interpret patent claim to clarify the scope of the patent rights.The interpretation of the patent claim is a course that a court understands the words of the patent claim, determines true meaning of the words of them, defines the scope of protection of patent rights when patent dispute is come up. Its interpreted object is several legal documents which are formed in the course of application and reviewing of patent: the patent claim letter, the patent specification, the attached graph, the statement of patent reviewing and related information, their role is different when we interpret patent claim - the patent claim letter is the foundation, the patent specification and the attached graph can be used as supplement. Under the influence of the ideology of the balance of interests, the interpretation of patent claim demands not only to determine clearly the scope of patent protection , to enhance the clarity and predictability, to reduce the cost of patent transactions, but also to balance the interests between the patentee and the public , to achieve the objective of the patent system. The interpretation of patent claims, in essence, is a legal issue, rather than a factual issue.the interpretation of patent claims explain the words of them at first :it means reading the words of the patent claim directly , referring internal evidence such as the patent specification ,the attached graph and other reviewed files , determining the true meaning of its words of the patent claim, defining the scope of the technology , and external evidence such as expert witness, dictionaries and science and technology academic articles can drawn on when the meaning of the words is still not clearly . Patent infringement does not come into existence when internal interpretation is used, in order to protect the patentee reasonably, equivalent interpretation should be used . The time of infringing patent rights is the time standard of judging infringe, the technical elements of infringement object are compared with ones of the patent claims one to one, from the vision of the general technical staff , whether the technical elements of infringement object and the patent claims achieve the same functionality , achieve the same function basically through the same way , and the intention of infringers is not considered .In order to obtain the patent rights when the patent is applied , However, abandoned technical elements will be used to interpret equivalently . The infringement will be not come into existence if charged object is the same as or more nearly with a common technology .Systematical studies on the interpretation of patent claim does good to deal with such issues to provide guidance for patent practical and judicial circle in China, and is of great importance to try patent disputes and establish the subject of the patent law.