Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act Article 18

The claim(s) of an invention may be presented in more than one independent claim; the number of claim(s) shall be consistent with the disclosure of the invention; when necessary, the claim(s) may contain more than one dependent claim. The independent claim(s) and the dependent claim(s) shall be consecutively arranged in Arabic numerical sequence according to their dependent relations.An independent claim shall state the designation of the subject matter as claimed and the essential technical features of the invention that the applicant regards as his/her invention.A dependent claim shall state the Arabic number(s) of the claim(s) on which it depends, the designation of the subject matter and the technical features other than those in the claim(s) on which it depends; whenever an interpretation of a dependent claim is made, it shall contain all the technical features of the claim(s) on which the dependent claim depends.A dependent claim depending on two or more claims shall be referred to as a multiple dependent claim and shall be presented in alternative.A dependent claim may only depend on the preceding dependent or independent claim(s). However, direct or indirect dependence is not allowed among multiple dependent claims.An independent or a dependent claim shall be written in a single sentence.