Claim with three elements - are products infringing if they contain ANY of the elements or do they need to contain ALL of the elements in the claim?

Question

Is claim 1 a claim to a floor module that contains all three of the subsequent aspects? Or is this patent claiming a module that includes at least one of these aspects? The aspects that I refer to are:

"an energy generating module configured to convert a movement of at least a part of the energy generating module into electrical energy, said energy generating module including an electric generator;

an interface module, configured to support a moving person, wherein a force applied by the moving person to said interface module causes a displacement of at least a part of the interface module, said displacement causing said movement of at least the part of the energy generating module; and

a lighting installation in the floor module, wherein said lighting installation is electrically coupled to the electric generator and is configured to illuminate the interface module and/or the moving person."

Thank you.

Answer 1

All three elements (a. energy generating module, b. interface module, and c. lighting installation) must be present for claim 1. to "read on" a product. It is the all elements rule. All of the other claims in this patent are dependent upon claim 1 so they automatically require those three things and more.

There is doctrine of equivalents that says that an element might be replaced with a structure that is not technically as required by the claim wording, but that accomplishes the same thing the same way and still infringe. The doctrine of equivalents is not very powerful these days.