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在很多专利申请文件中,结尾处常有这样一段话:虽然本申请以较佳实施例公开如上,但并不用于限定权利要求,任何本领域技术人员在不脱离本申请实质和精神的前提下,可以做出若干可能的变型、改变、替换……。这些变型、改变或替换均属于本发明的保护范围。

中文申请文件中的这些套话,其实是从国外的申请文件(尤其是美国专利申请)中翻译和借鉴(抄)过来的。

国外专利申请文件末尾的套话示例如下:

示例(1)
While the invention has been particularly shown anddescribed with respect to the illustrated and preferred embodiments thereof, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and otherchanges in form and details may be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

示例(2)
Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to the systems,apparatuses, and methods described herein without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure. For example, the components of the systems and apparatuses maybe integrated or separated. Moreover, the operations of the systems andapparatuses disclosed herein may be performed by more, fewer, or othercomponents and the methods described may include more, fewer, or other steps.Additionally, steps may be performed in any suitable order. As used in thisdocument, “each” refers to each member of a set or each member of a subset of a set.

这段套话,根据其字面描述,貌似囊括了一切可能的变型,感觉可以堵死他人对本发明作出改进的路。这段套话,有的专利申请中有,有的没有。先不管这段套话在专利申请文件是否有必要,是否有用,我们这里来说一下“套话”这个词对应的英文是什么?

“套话”的英文是什么?Legalese?Template sentences?
在专利申请中,这种套话对应的英文是:
boilerplate、boilerplatesentences或 boilerplatelanguage。

Boilerplate的英文含义:
Boilerplate, also known as standard, miscellaneous, orgeneral clauses, is located at the end of most corporate legal documents. Theyprovide instructions on how to act in a variety of situations and clarify therelationship between the parties.
套话,亦称为标准、附加或通用的条款,位于大多数企业法律文件的末尾。这些条款提供了在各种情况下进行操作的说明并明晰各方之间的关系。

Boilerplate与Broadening statements二者的区别?
Boierplate是格式化的文本,在实务中,这种套可有可无,只是有时候让申请文件看起来高大上。实际上对专利的保护范围并没有起到实质的作用。专利的保护范围以权利要求界定的范围为准,不会因为套话的这种“漫无边际的声明”而影响权利要求保护范围。个人不建议在专利申请文件中写入过多的这种套话。

在实务中,对于申请文件末尾的那一段套话,其一个作用是表明申请文件已经写完了,并没有丢失必要的文本。也就是说,这段套话,可以起到标示申请文件已经完结的作用,对撰写人员起到心理安定的作用。当然,如果能够像美国专利申请文件那样,在申请文件末尾加上“*”这样的文本结束标识,则是更好的。最好的是,在申请文件末尾加一个“(完)”字就好了。不过,没有人会想这么多,反正也是将别的申请文件中的套话复制过来,粘贴到申请文件末尾就行了,哪用管那么多?

这些套话来自国外,那外国专利律师对这些套话有什么不同的看法?
This word “boilerplate”. I see it all the time, in relation to patent specifications written in the USA. But I neversee it used in relation to those drafted elsewhere.

译文:“套话”这个词,在美国的专利申请文件中经常看到,但在其他国家或地区的申请文件从未见过。

So, is such text an artefact of the USlegal system? What purpose does it serve (other than to impress impressionablereaders).

那么,这段套话是美国法律体系的“杰作”?除了让读者觉得高大上以外,它的作用是什么?

Is it so, that diligent US attorneys find creative ways to include ever more boilerplate, to signal to their clientsthat they are better drafters than all the others?

美国勤奋的专利律师找到更多的富有创造性的方式来加入更多的套话文本来向他们的客户展示,显得他们比其他律师撰写得更好,是这样的吗?

If so, would you say that the strategysucceeds. Dennis seems to think so.

如果是这样的话,是不是说,这种策略是成功的?

其实,专利申请文件撰写得是否专业与是否加入这些冗余的套话无关。

Last modification:September 10th, 2021 at 10:27 pm