a plurality of, several, multiple, many, a large number of

[Mark Spahn]

Gary Wellman writes:
I've been told by US lawyers that
"multiple" 「多数」 means "many more than one"
whereas "a plurality of" means "two or more"
so they prefer the latter unless the
original specifically refers to a large amount. FWIW

Now that's interesting, and contrary to my understanding,
which is possibly misinformed.

"a plurality of" = 複数の
Meaning: two or more

"several" = 数-
Meaning: 「more than two but not many,
of an indefinite but small number, few」

"multiple" =
(Japanese equivalent and meaning discussed below)

multi- = 多-
Meaning: many (i.e., three or more)

poly- = 多-
Meaning: many (i.e., three or more)
Example: A polygon (多角形) has three or more sides.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Polygon.html

many, a large number of = 多数の
Meaning: three or more (?)
(To my mind, "many" is considerably more than three,
which is in the range of "several, a number of".)

So what does "multiple" mean?
A dictionary definition of "multiple" says "having many parts",
but exactly how many depends on the context.
Looking through a big dictionary, we have the following
X for "X or more" in various terms.
multiple alleles: three or more
multiple cropping: two or more
multiple drill: a number of (that's a help!)
multiple factors: two or more
multiple fission: three or more (lit., "more than two")
multiple integral: two or more (lit., "more than one")
multiple neuritis: several (how many are "several"?)
multiple star: three or more
multiple-valued = many-valued
multiple voting: two or more (lit., "more than one")

Usages like this make me think of "multiple" as
meaning "two or more" = 複数の.
If in patents there is a convention that "multiple" means
something else, I would like to see some evidence.
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)

[gwellman]

I agree with all your translations, although I usually translate 複数 as
"a plurality of"
and 多数 as "multiple." I just remember being told by a US patent lawyer
that
"multiple" usually means "many" and to try to avoid it in
translations.

The following site has three heavy, heavy pdfs which are glossaries of
judicial claim
constructions. In the electronics one, there is a reference to
"multiple" as meaning
"two or more," and "multiplicity" as meaning "two or more, usually a
large number."
Anyway, they are good references on the legal history of various
words.

http://www.pubpat.org/garrod-glossaries.htm

cheers
Gary Wellman
garyaw...@mbm.nifty.com

[Dale Ponte]

Just happened across a substantial thread in the archives ('07)
dealing with multiplicity and plurality in patentese, etc.:
http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/browse_thread/thread/abb250de7f7219ae/104308c93532c268?lnk=gst&q=parsimony#104308c93532c268

HTH
Dale Ponte