How a specific does a patent have to be?

Question

You often hear that for technology to be patentable it has to be sufficiently distinct from the technology already in the market. But how specific does a patent have to be? For instance, there is no one single smartphone patent, but many. How do I know if the technology I want to patent is too broad?

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Answers: 3 public & 0 private

77f6bb54dc
Patent Attorney

I agree with Steven. In addition, a patent application should include as much information as possible about your invention. By doing so, if the Patent Office find that your claims are too broad and not patentable during examination of your patent application, you can rely on this information to limit the scope of your claims. Many Patent Offices also have strict requirements as to the level of disclosure required in the patent application in order to make claim amendments, so it is often better to include more information than not. You do not want to end up in a situation whereby the Patent Office finds your claims too broad and you do not have sufficient disclosure in the patent application to amend the claims.

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