doctrine of equivalents

noun

A legal rule in most patent systems that allows a court to hold a party liable for patent infringement when the infringing device or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim, but nevertheless is equivalent to the claimed invention.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noun
  1. USlawA legal rule in most patent systems that allows a court to hold a party liable for patent infringement when the infringing device or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim, but nevertheless is equivalent to the claimed invention.
Cite this entry
APA

doctrine of equivalents. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doctrine%20of%20equivalents

MLA

“doctrine of equivalents.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doctrine%20of%20equivalents. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doctrine of equivalents,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doctrine%20of%20equivalents.

Source: doctrine of equivalents on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.