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ARTICLE · 30 OCTOBER 2025

When Grammar Limits Claim Scope: Drafting Around Step-Order Traps In Chemical Patents

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In chemical and materials patents, we spend so much time perfecting composition ranges and reaction conditions that it's easy to overlook something deceptively simple: grammar.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Tina Dorr
Tina Dorr
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In chemical and materials patents, we spend so much time perfecting composition ranges and reaction conditions that it's easy to overlook something deceptively simple: grammar. Yet courts frequently decide whether steps "must be performed in the order written" based on logic and syntax alone.

A misplaced "based on" or "then" can turn an intended open-ended process claim into a rigid sequence that narrows scope — or even eliminates infringement.

1. The Subtle Power of "Logic or Grammar"

When drafting process or system claims, pay attention to whether one step logically depends on another. In chemistry-related inventions, that can happen without any explicit time language.

For example, consider the following two claim fragments:

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