The Doctrine of Equivalents is a legal principle that is relevant to patent law, particularly in the United States, and it helps protect inventors' rights even when minor changes or substitutions have been made to a patented invention. When an inventor applies for a patent, the claims in the patent document define the scope of protection for the invention. These claims outline the specific elements or features of the invention that are considered unique and non-obvious. If another party copies or uses the patented invention without permission, it may be considered infringement. However, in some cases, the accused infringer may make slight modifications to the invention that fall outside the literal scope of the patented claims. The Doctrine of Equivalents comes into play here. It allows the patent holder to assert that the accused infringer's modified version is still equivalent to the patented invention and, therefore, falls within the scope of the patent protection. For the
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