Appeal No. 94-3255
Application 07/673,264
encompass. The subject matter there set
out must be presumed, in the absence to
evidence to the contrary, to be that “which
the applicant regards as his invention.”
This first inquiry therefore is merely to
determine whether the claims do, in fact, set
out and circumscribe a particular area with a
reasonable degree of precision and
particularity. It is here where the
definiteness of the language employed must be
analyzed--not in a vacuum, but always in light
of the teachings of the prior art and of the
particular application disclosure as it would be
interpreted by one possessing the ordinary level
of skill in the pertinent art [footnote and
citation omitted].
Thus, before we can consider the § 112, first paragraph,
enablement and written description issues, we must first
determine whether claim 55 satisfies the requirements of §
112, second paragraph.
As a starting point, we find it helpful to delineate the
four groups of bacteria encompassed by the claim. The
concurring opinion interprets the claim as being directed
exclusively to auxotrophic bacteria (Concur., p. 6, n.3), but
we do not find that to be the case. Rather, we find that
claim 55 is directed to:
(1) An amino acid producing auxotrophic bacterium of a
biologically pure strain ribulose-monophosphate-pathway
utilizing Bacillus MGA3, wherein said auxotroph exhibits
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007