The general claims of claims can be divided into independent claims and subordinate claims.
Requirements of independence right
An independent claim shall reflect the main technical content of the invention or utility model as a whole, including all necessary technical features, and can exist independently. The collection of its technical features is the maximum scope of patent protection. As long as the products produced by the third party do not use any of these technical features, it will not constitute patent infringement, so don't write any unnecessary technical features in the independent claim, otherwise it will not constitute infringement; At the same time, don't write the claims (especially the utility model patent claims) too broadly, which will make their rights unstable and easy to be invalid. After the new law is revised, it will encounter the defense of known technology.
(2) Dependent claims
Dependent claims refer to all technical features of independent claims or several claims, and include some new technical features. The dependent claim must follow the independent claim or the previous dependent claim.
Each independent claim can have several dependent claims. Where there are multiple claims, Arabic numerals shall be used for numbering. When numbering, the independent claim should be ranked first, followed by its subordinate claims.
Second, how to write a patent claim
1. The independent claim is divided into two parts. 1. Preface: indicate the subject name of the invention or utility model, as well as the necessary technical features and existing technologies of the invention or utility model; 2. Characteristic part: It is the core content of the claim to state the technical characteristics that distinguish the invention or utility model from the existing technology. This part should be related to the above content with the words "characterized by" or similar words after the preface. The preamble part and the characteristic part define the protection scope of the invention or utility model.
2. The dependent claim is also divided into two parts. 1. Citation part: indicate the cited claim number and the subject name of the invention or utility model. For example: "According to the claim1………"; Second, the defining part: stating the additional technical features of the invention or utility model is a supplement to the independent claim and further defines the technical features of the cited part. It should also be linked with "characterized by ...". Generally speaking, the dependent claims should supplement and improve the technical features of this patent from multiple angles as much as possible.
3. Common mistakes in writing claims. It is a common mistake for beginners to advocate pure function. In general, products must use structured technical features to write claims, methods must use step-by-step or conditional claims, and functional or mixed claims cannot be used. This kind of writing is easy to go beyond the scope of the manual and expand the scope of protection.