Claim legal definition of claim: What is a claim in legal terms?

A claim (or claims) is a written statement(s). Claims define the legal scope of a patent and define what can be protected by patent law. The "specification" part of a patent application must end with a claim or claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention or discovery. 

Claim In a patent or patent application, the claims define, in technical terms, the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. For instance, a claim could read: