Where to place the “; and” in the limitation?

Question

It seems like patent claims requires the keyword "; and" before the last limitation.

I'm not sure what is considered as last limitation here.

Claim 1:

A method comprising:

cutting ... ;

copying ... ;

pasting ... ;

wherein cutting ...  .  

If I understood correctly wherein clause also limit the claim. So where should I place the ; and keyword here?

Which one is correct?

A method comprising:

cutting ... ;

copying ... ; and

pasting ... ;

wherein cutting ...  . 

or

A method comprising:

cutting ... ;

copying ... ;

pasting ... ; and

wherein cutting ...  . 

Answer 1

The use of semicolons and "and" is not actually required as far as I know, but it is customary to use them. You will find thousands of patents without them, using commas instead or periods (this one is wrong but examiners may not even object to such claims anyway), with no "and" either.

I think there is no guide teaching how to use the "and", but what seems to be good practice is using "and" right before the last element of a same list. This means that your first example uses "and" appropriately (because you are listing a series of steps). Should you have further wherein statements, you would use "and" before introducing the last one as well (i.e. in addition to the "and" for the step list). Likewise, you would use "and" in any other list you have defined in your claim, e.g.:

[...]

• copying a drawing with a pencil, the pencil comprising: a first end comprising graphite; and a second end comprising an eraser; and

• pasting [...]