Ex parte NEGUS et al. - Page 8




          Appeal No. 95-4462                                                          
          Application 08/190,950                                                      


          1089, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (citations omitted):                            
               [t]he test for determining compliance with the                         
               written description requirement [found in the first                    
               paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112] is whether the                           
               disclosure of the application as originally filed                      
               reasonably conveys to the artisan that the inventor                    
               had possession at that time of the later claimed                       
               subject matter, rather than the presence or absence                    
               of literal support in the specification for the                        
               claim language.  The content of the drawings may                       
               also be considered in determining compliance with                      
               the written description requirement.                                   
               The requirement that the diameter of the periphery of the              
          contacting wall is “at least twice” the diameter of the                     
          aperture in the wall encompasses a range of ratios which                    
          includes the ratio 2 as a lower limit, and which has no upper               
          limit.  There is no support in the original disclosure for the              
          diameter of the periphery of the contacting wall 32 being                   
          twice the diameter of the aperture 26, as now covered by claim              
          1.  Likewise, there is no support in the original disclosure                
          for the diameter of the periphery of the contacting wall 26                 
          being any diameter greater than twice the diameter of the                   
          aperture 26, as also now covered                                            





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