The all elements rule or all limitations rule (often written with a hyphen after "all") is a legal test used in
US patent law
Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limit ...
to determine whether a given reference shows that a
patent claim
In a patent or patent application, the claims define, in technical terms, the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define ...
lacks the
novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
required to be valid. The rule is also applicable to an obviousness analysis.
[See ''Beckson Marine, Inc. v. NFM, Inc.'', 292 F.3d 718, 727 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (holding that for claimed subject matter to be obvious either the prior art references must expressly reach each claim limitation exactly or else the record must disclose a reason for a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the prior art teachings to obtain the claimed invention).] Under the rule, a single reference (for anticipation) or the combination of references relied upon, plus the ordinary knowledge of persons skilled in the art (for obviousness), must provide each claimed element. For anticipation, and under certain circumstances for obviousness, the
doctrine of inherency In United States patent law, the doctrine of inherency holds that, under certain circumstances, prior art may be relied upon not only for what it expressly teaches, but also for what is inherent therein, i.e., what necessarily flows from the express ...
may be relied on to meet this test.
See also
*
Claim (patent)
In a patent or patent application, the claims define, in technical terms, the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define ...
References
{{Reflist
United States patent law