开放式与封闭式权利要求的认定

How to Identify Open Claims and Closed Claims

目前的专利审查实践主要依据《专利审查指南》的相关规定来认定权利要求属于封闭式权利要求还是开放式权利要求。本文结合具体案例,论述了在《专利审查指南》没有规定的情况下,如何来判断一项权利要求属于开放式权利要求还是封闭式权利要求。本文认为,通常情况下,应当首先依据权利要求的字面含义来确定权利要求属于开放式还是封闭式。但在某些情况下,如权利要求中限定的多个技术特征之间存在矛盾或某些技术特征不清楚的情况下,则需要将权利要求作为一个整体来判断。

The current practice is mainly based on the relevant provisions of the Guidelines for Patent Examination to determine the claim that belongs to a closed claim or an open claim. This paper discusses that how to judge a claim is an open or closed claim in the circumstances that Guidelines for Patent Examination does not specify it. This paper argues that, in general, it should be based on the literal meaning of the claim to determine whether the claim belongs to the open or closed tbrm. But in some cases, such as the existence of multiple technical features defined in the claims of contradiction or some technical features of unclear circumstances, it will need to determine the claim as a whole.