By Ronald Slusky
Ronald Slusky mentored dozens of attorneys in “old school” invention analysis and claiming principles over a 31-year career at Bell Laboratories. He is now in private practice in New York City. This article is adapted from his book “Invention Analysis and Claiming: A Patent Lawyer’s Guide” published by the American Bar Association and available at all online bookstores. More information about the book can be found at www.claim-drafting.com. Ron can be reached at 212-246-4546 and rdslusky@verizon.net
This is the third column discussing ways of analyzing the inventor’s embodiment(s) to uncover the full breadth of the invention—a quest that the author calls “Reaching for Breadth.”
Prior columns2 urged the practitioner to:
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Start early. Formulate a draft of the problem-solution statement as soon as one has enough information to do so. Starting early counteracts the tendency for unessential implementational details to taint our notion of what the broad invention is.
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Think big. Envision what could be achieved for the patent owner by a patent that captures the broad functio...
