Patent claims serve to
provide notice as to the scope of an invention described in a patent. The
claims can be directed to various statutory types, such as an apparatus,
article, composition, method, system, or any other patentable subject matter.
For example, when the invention is a mechanical device, the claims are
generally characterized as apparatus- or system-type claims, and detecting
infringement of such claims can be as simple as finding a similar physical
device in the market. In contrast, software-related inventions can be claimed
as a method, as a system that carries out software operations, or as a
computer-readable medium (CRM) that contains program instructions, each of
which may be infringed in different contexts. Detecting infringement of
software-related patents can be more cumbersome because such inventions can be
collectively executed by several distinct components or produce outputs that
are not visually apparent. This article focuses on different standards for
infringement of software patents based on whether the patent has method,
system, or CRM claims, and explains the practical implications of these differences.
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