Sufficiency of the description

The sufficiency of the Description in relation to the realization of the invention implies that the latter is executable and reproducible by the person skilled in the art from the description and accompanying figures (L. 613-25 and L. 612-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code). A person skilled in the art should use the description and drawings to implement the invention which is the subject of the claims. The description is intended to disclose the invention to the person skilled in the art. It must provide him with intellectual access to the invention, so that anyone can take cognizance of it freely, but not its industrial access. Simple operations of execution or adaptation, based on the patent and the general knowledge of the skilled person, may be required to carry out the teaching.

In other words, the description of the invention in the patent must be sufficiently clear and complete to enable an expert in the technical field to understand how the invention works and to reproduce it without further inventiveness. If the description is not sufficient, the patent may be considered invalid, as it does not fulfill its function of contributing to the state of the art by providing a complete and clear description of the invention.

Sufficiency of description is indeed an important element of patent validity and is often examined during the process of patent application examination. Courts may also consider sufficiency of description when presented with a patent infringement action to determine whether the invention is adequately described in the patent to enable the alleged infringement.