Comparing claims


ClaimMaster lets you to quickly quickly compare claims within the same document, between different documents, or even between different patents. Differences between claims, such as additions and deletions, will be identified via the standard underline/strike-through notation, as shown below.



Getting Started

To compare claims, perform the following steps:


  • In Word 2007 or later - from the ClaimMaster Ribbon, click on the Time-Saving Tools menu, then Compare Claims:

 


  • In Word 2003 or earlier - from the ClaimMaster toolbar, select Time-Saving Tools, then Compare Claims:


Feature Options

Once you start the process, ClaimMaster will prompt you to select the claims for comparing. The compared claims will be the claims that had their edits accepted – in other words, if you are working on the Office Action response and some of your claims have amendments, the compared claims will include these amendments. Once you identify the claims/documents to compare, click "Compare Claims" to compare selected claims/documents.  


You can compare claims within a single document ("Compare in Document" tab), between documents located in the same folder ("Compare Folders" tab), and between different patents ("Compare Patents" tab).



Below is the more detailed explanation of each menu item:

    1. You can compare claims withing a single document, such as independent claims within a claim set. To do so, provide claim numbers or claim ranges to compare to each other, separated by “vs” command.  
      • For example, “1 vs 5” will print claim 1 on the left, claim 5 on the right and highlight the mutual differences between the claims. 
      • You can also compare claim groups: “1-5 vs 6-8”
      • You can also compare more than two claims or claim groups to each other. The number of claim sets is not limited. For example, “1-5 vs 6-8 vs 9-10” will compare each of the three claim groups to the other two groups. 
    1. When comparing more than 2 groups of claims, selecting this checkbox will place all groups in the same table having a column for each group.
    2. You can also compare claims between to one or more files within a folder by checking the box for this option and specifying the directory where the files with claims are located. If only one file is specified, the claims in the current document will be compared to the claims in the specified file.
    3. You can also compare claims between patents by checking the box for this option and specifying the list of patent numbers (either US or foreign).  If only one patent is specified, the tool will compare the claims in the existing application to the claims in the patent - this is a helpful way to check patent claims against issued patent after issuance.
    4. This section specifies various claim comparison options:
      • Compare only independent claims in the claim set, documents, or patents.
      • “Full text” – compare the full body of the claim against the full body of another claim.
      • “Limitation-by-limitation” – compare only across sequential limitations. However, if limitations are out of sync, this mode will not provide results that are as accurate as with the “full text” mode.