What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Narrow Patent Claims?
As more narrowly drafted patent claim contain a greater number of recitations/features than more broadly drafted patent claims, they may indeed prove invaluable during patent litigation and patent prosecution.
During litigation, if the Patentee is indeed faced with an invalidity defense, more narrowly drafted patent claims may provide the Patentee with greater security as these claims may be more likely to “survive” such a defense. Furthermore, during patent prosecution, more narrowly drafted patent claims will likely be found allowable more quickly by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
If the Patent Examiner indicates to the Application initially or early in patent prosecution that the more narrowly drafted patent claims are indeed allowable or allowed, the Applicant may indeed take the allowed claims (and cancel the non-allowed claims) in the examined patent application to obtain an expedient allowance. Additionally, the canceled non-allowed claims from the patent application could thereafter be filed in a continuation application (if the Applicant so chooses). Such a strategy could prove beneficial if the Applicant requires an expedited patent grant to further a business objective.
Although more narrowly drafted claims will generally impact the time and cost of prosecuting a patent application to allowance in a positive way, it should be additionally noted that more narrowly drafted claims are generally easier for a competitor to design around. For example, if the claims are drafted too narrowly, the resulting patent will likely prove ineffectual in excluding another (e.g., a competitor) from practicing the invention.