Patent Law Practice Center

Algorithm Disclosure: Best Practices in Software Patents

Essentially, means-plus-function claiming allows the drafter to claim the invention based on functionality rather than the more traditional (and preferred) claim technique that describes structure(s) within the body of the claim itself.

A claim term is functional when it recites a feature by what it does rather than by what it is. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the use of such claim language, although it is becoming more and more apparent (if it wasn’t already apparent enough) that the Federal Circuit frowns upon means-plus-function claiming.

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