Author(s): Firth A
Abstract: The registration of industrial property rights provides notice to the world at large of the existence and extent of exclusive rights. Third parties can search the registers, so clarity and proper elaboration serve the public interest. This underlies the classical ‘fence post’ or ‘peripheral’ approach to patent drafting and interpretation found in the common law world. Achieving a proper balance between right-holders and third parties is an issue for all forms of intellectual property right but registered rights are interesting in that the scope of protection is publicly declared by the right-holder. To assist them in this task , most industrial property systems permit multiple claiming and also make allowance for inexact infringements. This paper looks briefly at these issues and their interaction and considers the possibility that the natural tendency of an applicant to claim rights with the broadest possible scope may result in their enjoying narrow protection -‘more is less’ at the interpretation stage.
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Professor Alison Firth
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