If there is a patent for a product that has 16 claims and I sell a similar product and my product falls under 15 claims of the patented product but not the 16th claim then is it sellable? Or would I still get patent infringement notice?
1 Answer
Each claim is taken on its own. If your product meets everything laid out in any single claim then your product infringes that claim, and therefore infringes the patent.
You may have have heard that you need to have all elements of a claim to infringe - that is correct, all elements of any claim, not all claims.
You and your product may or may not attract the attention of the patent owner.
answered Nov 3, 2019 at 0:06
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Thank you so much George for your valuable answer. Just a small follow-up question; this infringement of claim on individual basis applies to both design and utility patents? Commented Nov 3, 2019 at 16:29
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Design patents, by definition, only have a single claim although they can have multiple embodiments.– George White ♦Commented Nov 3, 2019 at 17:00
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From the MPEP A Single Claim A design patent application may only include a single claim. The claim defines the design which applicant wishes to patent, in terms of the article in which it is embodied or applied. The claim must be in formal terms to "The ornamental design for (the article which embodies the design or to which it is applied) as shown." The description of the article in the claim should be consistent in terminology with the title of the invention. uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-basics/…– George White ♦Commented Nov 3, 2019 at 18:42