In several patent evaluation instances, including those involving patent infringement analysis or litigation, patent invalidity analysis or litigation, patent licencing and marketing, and claim construction issues, a claim chart is used.
Claim charts aid in confirming or disputing whether every limitation of the claim is included in a good, service, or standard during infringement investigation and litigation. Claim charts assist in confirming or refuting the novelty of a claim concerning the prior art for invalidity analysis in litigation.
Claim charts help in analysing patent validity or identifying patent infringement. Making a claim chart entails evaluating and dissecting a claim into several limiting components. Instead of focusing only on keywords or synonyms, it’s essential to comprehend each element’s largest possible interpretation. The broadest meaning is determined by carefully reading the patent specifications and file history.
In the case of a validity analysis, the prior art is compared to each aspect of the claim that has been identified to show if all elements are known in a single or several prior art references. It aids in outlining claims, comparisons, or similarities in terms of freshness or obviousness.
PATHtoIP® has developed many search techniques with the help of analysts, patent attorneys, and engineers that consider your areas of interest.
A textual and visual comparison of the claims and the allegedly unauthorised use serves to show an alleged infringement. The explained possible infringement is frequently referred to as a “mapping” since claim charts use claim phrases to browse the elements of the good or service.
Identifying Potential Patent Infringement
Analysing is essential to practically every possible patent monetisation option when determining a patent’s value. Analysts, engineers, and patent attorneys believe that identifying potential infringers is crucial to claims-chart research.
The fundamental rule for assessing if a piece of technology violates a patent is to interpret the patent claim chart to ascertain its breadth and meaning before comparing it to the allegedly infringing product.
To constitute a patent claim as infringed, every element of the claim must exist in the allegedly infringing product. Therefore, there is simply no substitute for having a person with ordinary ability in the art examine the claim and assess potential infringers, whether decoding the claim or relying on industry knowledge.
Litigation-Ready Claim Charts
Typically, claim charts are generated to direct and drive pending litigation. The proved infringement is the foundation of a future patent case, even if the inquiry’s breadth and the mapping’s specificity can differ for any required claim chart patent.
When a claim cart is described as “litigation-ready,” it means that it has substantial support from the patent specification and the intended use case documentation. But it does not necessarily imply that the judge or jury will see the streamlined version.
Two processes are involved in proving and documenting that your patent has been violated, and IP Offerings offers two services that take care of each.
Initial Assessment of Infringement
This service spreads out to concentric items and examines all potentially infringing products the patent owner has provided. The patent claim chart generates a list of potentially infringing products and assigns each one a Low, Medium, or High likelihood of doing so. Using the initial infringement analysis, you may concentrate your efforts and avoid wasting time and resources on improbable infringers.
Development of the Claim Chart
The patent holder chooses which individual items to be thoroughly investigated and recorded as infringing the product in the form of Claim Charts based on the findings of the Initial Infringement Analysis and with advice from IPOfferings.
You won’t know how many Claim Charts you require until you analyse the initial infringement analysis findings. Based on the findings, ordering one or two will allow you to order more Claim Charts down the road.
Benefits of Patent Claim Charts
Patent claim charts are essential for determining the validity or infringement of a patent. A claim chart examines and compares patent claims with prior arts, giving a quick and easy way to evaluate and show data on a patent claim. The first step in producing a claim chart is to review the claim and break it down into numerous limiting components. Generally, two charting columns are preferred:
- The left column contains the language of the patent claim under consideration, divided into subsequent limits (e.g., elements or stages, integers, portions);
- The right column contains prior art information about the claim element to the left.
Levels of a Patent Claim Chart
Depending on the intended use, a patent claim chart has various levels.
For internal use, short assessments and high-level presentations to internal decision-makers are typically all that is required for preliminary investigation and analysis to find potential infringement or prior art.
- High-level mapping is generally used in marketing to demonstrate the possibilities for use to potential customers or licensees.
- Mid-level mapping and analysis, including reverse engineering results, are necessary for licencing or sale purposes.
The objective of the assertion is to defend a product’s or patent rights against an opposing patent claim. Reverse engineering evidence is therefore required for legal talks between opposing parties, as well as extensive mapping and analysis. The strictest standards of diligence and specificity must be followed while mapping, analysing, presenting, and interpreting claims in court proceedings.
There are various ways to present claim charts—table and graphic forms are the most widely used formats.
Kinds of Claim Chart
The following three claim chart kinds are the most common.
- A chart of references includes older patents and magazine articles that purport to demonstrate the patent’s unpatentability due to anticipation or obviousness. It would be a diagram created by the defendant or entity charged with patent infringement.
- An infringement chart purports to demonstrate how the accused product or method satisfies the “all elements” infringement test by including each claim element. It would be a graph created by the patent owner or plaintiff.
- Less frequently, a claim interpretation chart that lists passages from the patent specification or technical literature that illustrate the correct meaning or interpretation that should be given to the claim’s wording is presented for each claim element.
Why PATHtoIP® for Claim Chart Analysis?
The crucial point to remember is that before determining that a claim is being utilised, all restrictions (i.e., requirements) of a claim in a patent claim chart must be addressed and proved to be employed in a good or service (or infringed). As a result, it would be necessary to address each word and phrase in the claim chart because they could all be crucial to this analysis.
With us at PATHtoIP® you can rely on a team of professionals and visionaries to provide extensive services for transforming your idea, intellect, and creativity into the property.
Each slide in the graphical, or slide, style focuses on a different claim element. If a claim part is lengthy or complex, it could take several slides to lay it out completely. Each restriction in the element is underlined or highlighted using a distinct colour.
To make it as simple as possible for the reader to understand the logic, it is crucial to utilise the same colour to designate the pertinent evidence that has been found. Therefore, we, PATHtoIP® provide you with numerous options that meet your requirements, such as a budget or a specific criterion search.
PATHtoIP® will ensure that our services are created per your requirements and a thorough assessment of the specialist, citing the justifications and qualifications for your idea. Your research incorporates vital resources including databases, tools, and additional subscribed directories.