r/Patents•
YourLovelyMan

Claim drafting - what is the best or clearest way to indicate that claim elements can be scaled or replicated?

Context: In 2023, the Federal Circuit issued the opinion Salazar v. AT&T Mobility LLC, in which it effectively held that "said microprocessor comprising" elements A, B, and C meant one single microprocessor executes each of elements A, B, and C. The defendant's product avoided this element because, with their product, separate microprocessors executed the elements.

As a result, I see practitioners use "one or more processors, the one or more processors comprising X, the one or more processors performing the steps of Y...". Legal effect aside for a moment, it looks like a mess.

What do you think is the best way to refer to "at least one processor" or "one or more processors" without it cluttering the claim language?

More precisely, for a patent like Salazar's, which of these do you prefer?

  • One or more processors, the one or more processors comprising...
  • At least one processor, the at least one processor comprising...
  • At least one processor, the processor comprising...

Posted Apr 8, 2026, 2:53 AM UTC

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