35 U.S.C. § 112 states that the specification of a patent document shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. It is the claims in a patent which defines the scope of the exclusive right granted in that particular patent. Formats for Claims
35 U.S.C. § 112 and 37 C.F.R. § 75(a)1 provide that the “specification shall conclude with one or more claims.” Claims are generally placed after the specification in a patent application; however, there is the practice in some countries that the claims are to precede the specification. The placement of the claims may not be of much concern. However, it is important that the structure of the claim follows the guidelines of the concerned patent office. Formats for Claims
Typically, an invention in a statutory class is distinctly claimed by means of a single sentence, in an accepted language(s) of the concerned jurisdiction. The standard custom as to claim construction is that each claim must be the object of a single sentence, however long it may be, beginning with a standard introductory phrase such as “I [or We] claim,” “The invention claimed is,” or something alike. It is also sometimes required that the claim begins with a capital or upper-case letter and end with a period. Typically, the broadest claim in terms of scope is arranged at the top and its dependent claims are grouped together. Further, different types of claims, such as product and process claims should be separately grouped. Formats for Claims
It is to be noted that sometimes pertinent sections of the law only point out that a claim is necessary, but does not define what a claim format or structure shall be. Such information may be obtained by referring to various patent rules as provided by the concerned patent office, or can be construed from various judgements in the domain.
