US Patent Spec Drafting: A Practical Guide

以下是給美國專利說明書寫作的初學者快速入門用的清單。若想要學習寫美國專利說明書，掌握每個要點之後，再加上了解技術，寫出來的專利說明書應該就可以勉強及格了。除了法律要求之外，清單裡還有一些與發明人會談的注意要點，以及給初學者的作文寫作建議供參考。

這個清單沒有很完整。我刪掉了很多內容，讓它比較簡明扼要。若需要比較詳細完整的，關於美國專利說明書的專業寫作介紹，請參考：

• MPEP 608.01 Specification
• MPEP 608.02 Drawing (這個製圖工程師必看) 
• Faber on Mechanics of Patent Claim Drafting (我買的時候它叫做Landis on Mechanics of Patent Claim Drafting，整本書都在介紹claim怎麼寫。關於claim drafting 的基本觀念，看這本就夠了。) 
• How To Write A Patent Application (這本很實用。以下有部分觀念是從這本書來的。)

The Basic Knowledge 

• Claim construction rules
• Eligibility issues
• Written description requirement
• Enabling requirement
• Definiteness
• Means clause

Before The Interview With The Inventor

• Study technical disclosures from the inventor
• Understanding underlying technology
• Try to prepare a picture claim including all elements and alternatives reflecting your understanding about the invention
• Try to be a PHOSITA

At The Interview With The Inventor

• Clarify the novel and non-obvious points with the inventor
• Compare the invention with the prior art known by the inventor
• Confirm the problem solved by the invention / the technical advantage of the invention
• Clarify and confirm with the inventor: 
• essential elements/limitation
• non-essential elements/limitation
• environment/workpiece
• Confirm the names of the elements
• Confirm verb/adj/adv of the limitations 
• Confirm possible alternatives of the elements
• Especially elements having functional limitations only
• Obtain an enabling written description
• How it works
• The theory behind it (if the theory is known)
• All other information necessary to teach one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention.
• Draft at least the broadest claim at the interview: the best way to confirm the invention with the inventor
• Ethics issue: do not become a co-inventor

After The Interview

• Confirm the points discussed at the interview in writing
• Send the meeting minutes prepared at the interview (not after the interview)
• Include date, place, name of the attendees, draft drawings, key points discussed
• Put the meeting minutes in the file jacket as a record

Starting From The Claim

• Prepare draft drawings
• Attach reference numbers to every elements in the draft drawings
• Be careful about the hierarchical relationships between the numbers
• Identify essential elements / non-essential elements / environment or workpiece in the draft drawings
• The first independent claim
• Preamble
• Subject matter
• Consider eligibility issue
• Overall function / purpose of the subject matter 
• Environment
• Workpiece
• Transitional phrase
• open / closed
• Body 
• Essential elements: avoid limitations unnecessary to the invention
• Essential relationship between elements 
• Common approach of introducing elements
• Imagine that you are preparing a solid-model diagram for a structure
• Imagine that you are preparing a flowchart for a method
• Functional limitation / wherein / whereby
• Consider the possibility to transform functional limitation into structural limitation
• Means-plus-function considerations
• Proper Markush group
• Let the preamble "breath life" in the body of the claim
• First dependent claim set
• Be careful about the hierarchical dependencies of the claims
• Use the same name for the same element
• Preamble
• Use the same subject matter
• Transitional phrase
• Addition (“further comprising”) or Explanation (“wherein”)
• Body 
• Non-essential elements
• Non-essential relationship between elements
• Alternatives
• Dependent claim strategy
• Present the feature that may be patentable even if the parent is not patentable
• Claim differentiation doctrine
• Claim your product
• Other claim set: claim strategy
• Different statutory classes / varying scopes
• Process - Product
• Combination – Sub-combination
• Software claim: Consider Process – Product – Storage Medium
• Network claim: Server – Client
• Keep in mind the Unity requirement
• Always keep these in mind:
• Eligibility issues
• Statutory class
• "Directed to" a non-statutory subject matter
• Practical application
• Significantly more
• Indefinite risks
• Antecedent basis
• Double inclusion
• Approximation
• Negative limitation
• Alternative limitation
• Claim as broad as the prior art permits
• Catch the infringer!
• Protect your own product
• Patent exhaustion doctrine
• Post-Festo considerations
• Royalty base considerations
• Smallest-salable patent practicing unit
• Apportionment theory

Writing the Specification

• Prepare drawings first
• Start from the draft drawings prepared when drafting claims
• Enlarged view / diagrams for different states
• Abstract
• Redraft claim 1 into plain language
• Summary of the Invention
• Redraft the claims into plain language
• All / some / independent claims
• Objectives of the invention (consider the necessity)
• Make sure that the objectives are directly related to the problem addressed in the Background Section
• Make sure that the objectives recited are those of "the invention", not some embodiments only.
• Advantage of the invention (consider the necessity)
• The Background Section
• Field – consider IPC
• Related Art
• Put content of IDS, if any, into Background section
• Begin the sales pitch of the invention
• Address problem(s) in the related art
• Make sure the problem is directly related to the objectives of the invention
• Be careful about undue limitation
• The Detailed Description
• Effective composition
• Use the claim structure as a guide
• One topic per paragraph
• Try to use the claim limitation as the Topic Sentence of each paragraph
• First Paragraph: Overall structure of the embodiment
• Following Paragraphs:
• Use the hierarchical relationships of the claims to discuss each element 
• Discuss the element itself and its relationships with other elements
• Discuss alternatives of the elements
• Describe different aspects/embodiments
• Support the claimed numerical range
• Functional language in the claim
• Put multiple structures to support the functional language
• Computer-related invention: algorithm as structure
• Clear correspondence 
• “Non-limiting” statements
• Hardware description for software inventions

Review the Whole Specification Again

• Avoid undue limitation
• Objective description without subjective emphases
• Avoid using terms like “critical”, “necessarily”, “primary”, “essential”, or even “preferable” in the specification
• Check whether every claim limitation has support in the specification
• Check whether every claim limitation has support in the drawings
• Avoid “not shown in the drawings” when the feature is claimed
• Check reference numbers
• Do not assume knowledge of the state of the art
• Use claim terms consistently throughout the specification
• Make sure that all embodiments have all the listed objectives and advantages
• Functional limitations: make sure all of them have corresponding structures in the disclosure
• Avoid dedicate-to-public rule
• Avoid legal phraseology in the specification – use plain language
• For different countries:
• Fee considerations
• CN/EU: Two-part form requirement
• CN: Amendment issues
• Later added claim cannot beyond the scope of the original claims
• Draft broad claims
• Can only add limitations in the dependent claims. 
• Draft dependent claims to overcome potential patentability rejections.
• CN: Objective / Advantage requirement
• EU: multiple dependent claim practice
• CN: functional limitations "deemed as prior art" in claims of utility model applications
• Eligibility issues
• "use" claims
• "computer program product" claims