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Of Fences And Definite Patent Boundaries, Deepa Varadarajan
Of Fences And Definite Patent Boundaries, Deepa Varadarajan
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Patent claims are supposed to mark the boundaries of a patent clearly so that competitors and follow-on innovators can avoid infringement. But commentators routinely lament the failure of patent claims to adequately perform this notice function. In numerous calls for patent reform, courts and scholars have contrasted the indeterminacy of patent claims with the clarity of real property boundaries. The Supreme Court recently echoed this sentiment in "Nautilus v. Biosig Instruments." In "Nautilus," the Court heightened the patent requirement of claim definiteness and reversed Federal Circuit precedent, which had allowed many ambiguous claims to survive invalidity challenges. This Article analyzes …