functional patent claim
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 294 U.S. 20 - Waxham v. Smith · 1935Most cited · 100 citing opinions
A method, which may be patented irrespective of the particular form of the mechanism which may be availed of for carrying it into operation, is not to be rejected as 'functional' merely because the specifications show a machine capable of using it.
How often courts cite the case defining “functional patent claim”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “functional patent claim” — 97 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.