Means-Plus-Function: Recent Developments and New Considerations

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• I. Introduction
  
• II. Background
  • A. Supreme Court Prompted Congress With Halliburton
  • B. CAFC Instructed PTO With Donaldson
  • C. PTO Guides Practitioners With Guidelines
• III. The Means-plus-function Debate Continues
  • A. AIPLA Says Amend 35 U.S.C. Sect. 112, Paragraph 6
  • B. ABA Says Delete 35 U.S.C. Sect. 112, Paragraph 6
  • C. Court Says Patentability Of Software-Related Inventions Is Affected
    
• IV. Practical Considerations For Practitioners
  
  • A. Do Not Ignore The Issue
    
  • B. Do Not Assume Alternate Formats Avoid the Statute
    
  • C. Be Wary of Adding Laundry Lists of Equivalents
    
  • D. Do Not Avoid Means-plus-function
    
  • E. Disclose More Structure in the Specification
    
  • F. Consider Adding Broad Inclusive Concluding Statement
    
  • G. Take Advantage of Donaldson
    
• V. Conclusion
  

Copyright 1995 Jeffrey R. Kuester