The art of claim drafting affords the patent professional wide latitude in how an invention is captured. The same inventive concept can lend itself to multiple claim categories, such as a system and method. However, some inventive concepts are challenging to cover in a way that will ensure that examiners give claim limitations sufficient patentable weight, while also enabling enforcement against a target defendant.

For applicants who implement an invention that improves a range of product offerings, developing a claim strategy can be even more challenging where the invention is only, or best, appreciated when considering multiple products. As an example, consider an invention that improve manufacturing efficiency by re-using the same part in multiple sizes of a product (e.g., footwear, motors, engines, etc.). Any single product may not actually be novel or inventive on its own. Only after seeing how the part or parts are applied among a plurality of products does the novelty and inventiveness become clear. But how does one claim the invention?

While a method claim might be one approach, another option to consider is claiming a product line. While this may not stop a competitor selling a single product size, for example, it would apply to competitors that compete among a plurality of product sizes. Such protection may be sufficiently valuable to warrant a claim set covering a product line.

While this approach is relatively uncommon, it is not difficult to find various examples. One such example is US 9,987,175 to Kimberly-Clark. Issued claim 1 is reproduced below:

1. A product line of absorbent articles, said product line comprising:

a first absorbent article for a male wearer within a first size range, said first absorbent article comprising an outer cover, a body facing material in opposed relationship with the outer cover, an absorbent body disposed between the body facing material and the outer cover for absorbing liquid that passes through the body facing material, the body facing material defining a male urine handling feature comprising a plurality of projections adapted to handle urine released by the male wearer; and

a second absorbent article for a female wearer sized within the first size range, said second absorbent article comprising an outer cover, a body facing material in opposed relationship with the outer cover, an absorbent body disposed between the body facing material and the outer cover for absorbing liquid that passes through the body facing material, the body facing material defining a female urine handling feature comprising a plurality of projections adapted to handle urine released by the female wearer, at least a portion of the projections of the female urine handling feature having a different configuration than the projections of the male urine handling feature.

Here, a notable features is not only something common among the articles in the product line, but also a difference - the female configuration being different than the male configuration.

So, if you find yourself struggling to identify successful claim approaches in cases like this, consider a product line claim, or at least including sufficient disclosure in the specification and figures to support a product line claim in case it becomes necessary during prosecution.