BASICS OF SPECIFICATION DRAFTING

by

Somashekar
Partner Brain League IP Counsels

Object of Patent Law

The object of Patent Law is to encourage scientific research, new technology and industrial progress. The price of the grant of the monopoly is the disclosure of the invention at the Patent Office, which after the expiry of the fixed period of the monopoly, passes into the public domain. Biswanath Prasad
Radhey Shyam vs Hindustan Metal Industries on 13 December, 1978

SPECIFICATION

Form of Application
Patent Application
Form of Application
Provisional Application (Provisional Specification + Filing documents) Non Provisional/Complete Application (Complete specification + Filing documents)

Priority Date- filing date of the first application in a

chain of applications

In the Indian Patent Act

Section 7(4)- Every such application.shall be accompanied by a provisional or complete specification Section 10(1) Every applicationshall describe the invention andbegin with a title Section 10 (4)- every complete specification shall
Fully and particularly describe the invention Disclose the best method End with a claim Be accompanied by an abstract

And so on.

Specification Contents
Title Preamble of the invention Technical field Background Objects Statement of the invention Brief description of the drawings Detailed description Claims Abstract Drawings

Example Invention
Coffee dispensing machine in which a crusher/grinder for grinding coffee beans is included as a novel and inventive concept

Title
1. Should be provided in the first page of Form-2 2. Should indicate the subject matter 3. Should not be more than 15 words 4. Should be free from fancy expression or ambiguity 5. Inventor s name, the word patent, words in other languages and so on should not be used

Title
6. Should correspond to the broadest claim 7. Should embrace all variants of the invention (apparatus and method) Title for our Invention? Apparatus and method for dispensing coffee Coffee dispensing Machine and method of dispensing coffee

Preamble
Should be provided in the first page of Form-2 Provisional Specification
The following specification describes the invention

Complete Specification
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

Technical Field
Provided in page 2 of Form-2 Should indicate general art to which the invention belongs Areas of application may be mentioned Technical field for our invention?
The embodiments herein generally relate to dispensing machines and more particularly to an apparatus and method for dispensing coffee

Background
Distinguish the invention from what is already existing in the field Should not describe the claimed Invention Should use drawings to explain any prior art If the latest art in the field (prior to the invention at hand) is Applicants own work , then such work should not be described here Do not exaggerate the disadvantages of prior art

Background
Do not criticize the prior art
Example
Specification:
Composite guard includes guard panel and mesh layer attached by continuous fusing or heat/ultrasonic welding criticized attachment means in prior art Background:[t]he attachment means used in other prior art gutter guards is generally less effective, and more costly, time consuming, and labor intensive
Mesh layer

Guard panel

Background
Claim:
Heat weld...connecting said mesh layer to said guard panel

Accused product: Mesh screen attached to guard panel by adhesive/hot glue Held: No literal infringement and no infringement under DOE

Background
Background for our invention?
At present, coffee beans are crushed/ground separately to obtain coffee powder. Thereafter, the coffee powder is packaged and brought to be fed into the coffee dispensing machine. The aforementioned process is tedious and time consuming and further, the baldes/crushing elements of typical a crusher or a grinder are not appropriate enough to crush the coffee beans to the desired size. Therefore, having a crusher/ grinder integral to the coffee dispensing machine is desirable

Background

In the existing coffee dispensing machine as shown in Fig. _, powdered coffee is provided manually through an inlet i of the machine

Objects
Should set forth broad objectives Acts as a pointer while drafting detailed description
Objects for our invention?
An object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for crushing coffee beans and dispensing coffee.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method for

crushing coffee beans and dispensing coffee.

Statement of Invention
Usually drafted when omnibus claims are intended to be introduced. According to new manual of patent office practice and procedure (MPPP), Omnibus claim should be avoided.

Brief Description of Drawings

Should clearly indicate that the drawings are showing embodiments of the invention and not the invention itself Should start with The invention is illustrated in
the accompanying drawings, throughout which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:

Brief Description of Drawings

Brief description of the drawings for our invention?
Fig 1 shows a coffee dispensing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a flow chart showing the process of dispensing coffee.

Detailed description
Should start with the following, or similar paragraph:
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

Detailed Description
Should provide sufficient details of the invention The making and using of the invention should be explained in depth so as to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention Details of the invention should be explained with reference to drawings Should disclose best mode

Detailed Description
The terminology should be consistent Should be well organized and easily understandable Start with a general overview and proceed with increasing levels of detail Should set forth several, if not all, alternative working examples even if only one embodiment is illustrated in the drawings

Detailed Description
Detailed description for our invention?
the apparatus 100 as shown in Fig 1 includes a housing 10. The housing 10 is provided with a first hopper 12a and a second hopper 12b on a top portion thereof. The housing 10 is adapted to receive a first container 14a, a second container 14b and a collector 16 and a dispenser 18. The dispenser 18 includes a plurality of outlets 18o. ..

Claims
Should start in a different page Should start with Preamble I/We Claim Define the scope of protection Every claim has a date associated with it Every claim is an invention What is not claimed in the claims stands disclaimed

Claims
Parts of a claim
Preamble Transitional phrase Body

Example Preamble Transitional Phrase A system for., said system comprising: element A; element B; and Body element C.

Claim Format
Independent claim
Stand alone usually broad
Example 1. A system for.., said system comprising: element A; element B; and element C.

Claim Format
Dependent claim
Dependent on independent claim or another dependent claim Narrow scope
Example 1. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein element A comprises element D.

Claim format
Multiple dependent claim
Refers back to more than one claim in alternative Narrow scope
Example 3. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein element A further comprises element E.

Claim drafting-Practical Tips

Draft a broadest independent claim with at least one novel point and then proceed with drafting dependent claims Do not include unnecessary limitation in the independent claim Claim an apparatus in non-operational state Do not include multiple dependent claims

Claims
Example:
Provisional specification was filed disclosing elements A B and C on May 27, 2012. Complete specification will be filed on May 27, 2013 disclosing elements D and E along with elements A,B and C.

1. Can the complete specification claim priority from provisional specification? 2. What is the priority date of a claim claiming elements A B and
C? 3. What is the priority date of a claim claiming elements D and E? 4. What is the priority date of a claim claiming elements A, B, C, D and E?

Claims
Example 1. A chair comprising a seat and a back rest. Said chair further having four legs. 1. A chair comprising: a seat; a backrest; and at least one leg.

Claims
Example: 1. A fan comprising: a rotating hub; and three wings attached to said hub. 1. A fan comprising: a hub configured to rotate; and at least one wing attached to said hub.

Claims

Claims for our invention?

Abstract
Should be in a separate sheet Start with the title of the invention Should not exceed 150 words Should indicate the figure which needs to be published with it

Drawings
Should be accurately referenced and described Should show every feature of the invention

Drafting Approach
Title Sequence of drawings First draft of Claims Technical field Background Object Brief description of drawings Detailed description Final claims Abstract

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