I&#x27;ve never really understood why people bother with dependent claims when in a sense only the independent claim counts.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;patentlyo.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;2008&#x2F;05&#x2F;theory-of-depen.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;patentlyo.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;2008&#x2F;05&#x2F;theory-of-depen.html</a> shows some reasons, but I don&#x27;t find them terribly compelling.<p>Would one of our resident lawyers like to enlighten me? Is it really simply tactical, and in a perfect world they wouldn&#x27;t be needed at all?