What is a generic claim in patent law?
A generic claim in patent law is a claim that covers multiple species or embodiments of an invention. According to MPEP 806.04(d), “In general, a generic claim should require no material element additional to those required by the species claims, and each of the species claims must require all the limitations of the generic claim.“
This means that a generic claim should be broad enough to encompass various specific implementations (species) of the invention, while each specific implementation should include all the elements of the generic claim.
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