Target Claiming

One of the oldest and best strategies to secure strong patent coverage for an invention is to claim the inventive subject matter using target claiming. In that strategy the applicant drafts a broad claim, and then drafts successively narrower dependent claims relative to a particular parameter. For example, if a manufacturing process is discovered that is effective above pH 8, but works best at around pH 10.3, the broad independent claim might specify a method or apparatus in which the process takes place above pH 8. Dependent claim 1 might specify a pH range of 9.5 - 11.5, with dependent claim 3 specifying pH 10 - 10.5, and dependent claim 4 specifying approximately pH 10.3. Of course the term "approximately" would need to be defined in the Specification.