means-plus-function

Aristocrat case raises requirements for means-plus-function software patent claims

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Aristocrat Technologies will require software patent drafters to take more care to describe the algorithms covered by their software--or risk patent invalidity. ( See Aristocrat Technologies.) The court held that expert testimony that a programmer would know how to write code to perform a given function cannot supplement an incomplete patent disclosure when software claims are written using "mean-plus-function" format. Means-plus-function format means that something is claimed by the function it performs rather than by a specific structure--for example, a means-plus-function claim might recite a "means for fastening paper together" … Read more

Originally posted at BLIP: Blogging Patents

April 15, 2008 8:58 AM PDT By Chris Ryan

Topics:

Patent,

Federal Circuit,

Patent Office

Tags:

Aristocrat,

software patent,

means-plus-function,

algorithm,

algorithm rule