ClaimMaster includes patent application drafting tools that let you to quickly generate the “example clauses” for PCT patent applications. Such clauses are copies of claims converted to text paragraphs and with full multiple dependencies added, which lets you claim more combinations in EPO applications. For instance, if you have claims 4 and 5 both dependent directly from claim 1, the EPO “intermediate generalization” standard may prevent you from claiming a full combination of claims 1, 4, and 5. On the other hand, if you use ClaimMaster to insert “example clauses” that expressly cover such combinations into the application, you will be able to claim those combinations if necessary during prosecution. The conversion of claims into clauses uses natural language processing (NLP) techniques, but is highly customizable based on user-defined templates and supports essentially any drafting style.
To convert one or more of the existing claims to the “example clauses”, perform the following steps:
- Open the Example Clauses Generation Tool
From the ClaimMaster tab, click on the Patent Drafting Tools menu, then click on Generate Example Clauses From Claims :
- Select Claims
Select claims to use as the base for the generated clauses section. To help with the claim selection, if you hover over any claim number in the claim tree, you will be able to review the text of the claim in the small tooltip window that appears below the claim number.
- Select Template and Preview the Generated Clauses
Select the desired clause generation template. For more information on how to configure generation templates for “example clauses”, click here.
Once you select the claims and the template, ClaimMaster will generate the text in the preview window. You can make edits to the generated section directly into the preview window. When you insert the generated “example clauses” into the document, the text from the preview window will be used for insertion. Note that re-selecting claims or picking a different template will reset the preview window, so your edits will be lost.
- Insert the Generated “Example Clauses” into the Document
Once you are satisfied with the preview/edits of the generated “example clauses” section, proceed to insert the generated text into the document. You’ll do this by clicking the Insert Clauses button. Prior to insertion, you can also specify whether to insert the generated clausesinto the currently open document (at the current cursor location) or into a new document.
After you insert the generated “example clauses” section, you can either close the text generation tool or click on the Next Steps button to proceed inserting other sections into the shell using the built-in workflow.
For more information on this feature, check out the Online Manual.