What are the criteria for linking claims in patent applications?

Linking claims in patent applications must meet specific criteria as outlined in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) 809. The key criteria include:

• The linking claim(s) must be broader in at least one respect than the inventions it links.
• The linking claim(s) must require all the limitations of at least one of the linked inventions.
• The inventions linked by the linking claim(s) must be separately patentable.

As stated in the MPEP: “Linking claims and the inventions they link together are usually either all directed to products or all directed to processes (i.e., a product claim linking properly divisible product inventions, or a process claim linking properly divisible process inventions).”

To learn more:

• linking claims
• patent applications
• MPEP 809
• criteria for linking claims