Originally published on Primary
Opinion
Scope of a claim and the number of actors in a claim are
interrelated. Each of these affects what is claimed and
whether this provides good claim coverage for the client. An
apparatus claim is usually a single actor claim, but system claims
and method claims are not necessarily so straightforward to craft
as a single actor claim. Determining what product(s) the
client actually sells or intends to sell, and what are the
interactions in the product, provides good guidance as to the claim
scope.
What we mean by the terms "actor", and "single
actor claim"? The actor, or agent, is the performer of
an action. Take, for example, a software-based invention that
involves interaction between one or more users and one or more
machines, ostensibly programmed computers, servers, user devices,
etc. Or, an invention involving specialized equipment that
has programming. The actor could be a user, performing
actions on the machine
