Inventors: `Protect thyself': Careful attention to the claims section will go far toward establishing patent validity and extending the scope of protection

The single most important reason why so many electrical patents are of dubious value is that inventors fail to participate fully in the task of patent preparation. The vast majority of inventors carefully review drawings and descriptions before their patent applications are filed. But unfortunately, an almost equal proportion totally ignore the claims section (one-paragraph summaries of the invention), with the excuse that they are legal jargon and, therefore, incomprehensible in the first place. These engineers overlook the fact that the validity of the patent and the scope of the protection are measured by the claims. The most accurate and thorough description will be of no avail, and would-be infringers will be able to "design around the patent," if the claims do not succinctly set forth the crux of the invention.