Taking ‘Due Account’ of Equivalents

Journal article

1 online resource (page 1079–1083)

Headnotes by the Editorial Office 1. There are two approaches to taking due account of equivalents when determining the scope of protection of a patent. In the first approach, the patent is interpreted in one step, and equivalents are directly considered when seeking the middle ground between protecting the patent holder’s interests and ensuring legal certainty for third parties. The second approach involves two steps. If the patent claim cannot be interpreted to mean that all of its features are reflected in a third party’s product or process (first step), then – if the patent holder’s argument so warrants – it is examined whether the element that deviates from a feature included in the claim is equivalent to that feature and whether it is therefore still appropriate to include the product or process within the patent’s scope of protection (second step).

Crossref

GRUR International ; 73, 11, 2024, 2632-8550.

[Oxford, England] : Oxford University Press (OUP), 2024.

English

https://academic.oup.com/grurint/article/72/3/231/6998505

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