Building A Portfolio

A patent can theoretically secure a monopoly with only a single claim, but more realistically solid patent protection is dependent on having numerous claims, and often numerous claims in multiple patents. First of all, different claims have different scopes, and are less likely to be invalidated or circumvented than a single claim. Second, multiple claims appear to a competitor to be a more formidable obstacle, and serve more of a deterrence function. The flip side of the equation, however, is that multiple claims and multiple patents are more expensive to obtain that a single claim. The question thus becomes how an applicant should go about building a patent portfolio cost-effectively.