1. Equal in value, force, amount, effect, or significance.
2. Corresponding in effect or function; nearly equal; virtually identical.
equivalent, n. Patents. An element that (1) existed before another element; (2) can perform the same function as the other element; and (3) is recognizable as a substitute for the other element. • For instance, mechanical devices are equivalents when one skilled in the art would have recognized that each device would produce the same result. If the equivalent is known at the time an invention is conceived, the invention’s patentability may be questioned. See ANALOG. [Cases: Patents 237. C.J.S. Patents §§ 425–426.]
“If a given substitute is an equivalent under certain circumstances or in certain settings, and is not an equivalent under certain other circumstances or in certain other settings, then the substitution is patentable, provided the claim contains express limitations to the circumstances or settings in which the substitution is nonequivalent.” Roger Sherman Hoar, Patent Tactics and the Law 43 (3d ed. 1950).
