to secure a European patent. These technical features can be either structural (e.g. a nail, a rivet) or functional (e.g. fastening means).

Regarding the structure of a claim, under the EPC, what is called the "preamble" is different from the meaning the "preamble" has under U.S. patent law. In an independent claim in Europe, the preamble is everything which precedes the expression "characterized in that" or "characterized