Don't Ever Let The Patent Office Write The Claims

Inventors who prosecute their own patents often seek the patent examiner's assistance in revising the claims. Bad idea. Yes, it is true that the vast majority of inventors don't have a clue how to write a good claim, and the examiner's claims will be better by a long shot than those drafted by the inventor. But allowing the patent examiner to draft the claims is akin to letting the fox guard the hen house. The examiner will invariably draft claims that are narrower than necessary, and such claims are almost always of little or no commercial value because they leave a door wide open for the competition to enter. This is not to disparage the examiners. Inventors and patent attorneys should certainly take advantage of an examiner's willingness to discuss possible claim language. But examiners do not have the same level of interest as an inventor or a patent attorney in securing broad claims.