Along with this question. What difference does it make if you reference an independent claim directly or indirectly through another dependent claim? Is it ever necessary to state "as claimed in any one of the preceding claims" or "as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2, etc."?
Thanks, Helmuth
A dependent claim references either an independent claim or a previous dependent claim. Note, in the U.S. multiply dependent claims ""as claimed in any one of the preceding claims" or "as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2, etc." is strongly discouraged. The opposite is true in the EPO and many other places.
A dependent claim inherits all of the limitations in the independent claim at its base and any and all of the dependent claims in its path back to that independent claim.
If claim 1 says "an apparatus comprising A" and claim 2 says" the apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a B".
Assume claim 3 is going to be about including a C. If you say claim 3 is "The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a C", then something with an A and a C will infringe claim 3 whether or not it has a B. If, instead, claim 3 is "The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising a C", then to infringe claim 3 an item will need to have an A, a B, and a C. It just depends what you are trying to achieve with the claim.
