MPEP Section 806.04(e), Claims Limited to Species

Executive summary:

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806.04(e) Claims Limited to Species

Claims are definitions >or descriptions< of inventions. Claims >themselves< are never species. The scope of a claim may be limited to a single disclosed embodiment (i.e., a single species, and thus be designated a specific species claim)*>. Alternatively,< a claim may *>encompass< two or more of the disclosed embodiments** (and thus be designated a generic or genus claim).

Species * always >refer to< the * different embodiments >of the invention<.

Species may be either independent or related as disclosed (see MPEP § 806.04 and § 806.04(b)).