An inventor seeking a patent must distinctly claim his or her invention, and those claims define and communicate to the public the boundaries of the invention over which a patent holder is granted exclusivity.
Although inventors often draft claims distinctly describing the structure of their invention, the law permits a form of shorthand drafting called “means-plus-function” claiming. Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (formerly 112(6)), a claim element may be drafted in terms of a means for performing a particular function, provided the patent specification describes the corresponding structure.
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