Appeal No. 1999-0936
Application No. 08/890,263
ordinary skill in the art would not consider the description
sufficient. Once the examiner has carried the burden of
making out a prima facie case of unpatentability the burden of
coming forward with evidence or argument shifts to the
applicant to show that the invention as claimed is adequately
described to one
skilled in the art. In re Alton, 76 F.3d 1168, 1175, 37
USPQ2d 1578, 1583-84 (Fed. Cir. 1996). If a person of
ordinary skill in the art would have understood the inventor
to have been in possession of the claimed invention at the
time of filing, even if every nuance of the claims is not
explicitly described in the specification, then the adequate
written description requirement is met. Id., 76 F.3d at 1175,
37 USPQ2d at 1584.
In this case we do not consider the reasons given by the
examiner sufficient to make out a prima facie case of
noncompliance with the “written description” requirement. In
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