KnowThis Tutorial: Marketing Method Patents
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Page 13 of 15
5. Writing the Claims
Claims represent the heart of the patent and represent the legal foundation on which the patent rests. Claims describe what the patent covers. Patent claims have two parts: independent claims and dependent claims. For business method patents the Independent claims lay out a basic process to be patented. An independent claim will describe, generally in broad detail, what the method covers and does this in a way that will coincide with how the process sequentially takes place. For a methods claim it may start with “A method for ….” Continuing with our Netflix example, shown below is the beginning section of the Netflix claims. Claim #1 is an independent claim and presents the basic idea of the process. Claims #2 and #3 are dependent claims relating to the independent claim. Dependent claims add specificity to the independent claims by providing more detail on certain elements found in the independent claim. For instance, in the Netflix example Claim #2 expands on the concept of “number of items provided to the customer does not exceed the specified number” found in Claim #1 by further indicating that a “specified period of time” may be set for the rental. 
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Marketing Method Patents 