Appeal No. 1998-1224
Application No. 08/465,077
rate is associated in appellant’s specification only with
one particular etchant solution, viz., the preferred
etchant composition. However, this is not dispositive as
regards compliance with the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §
112.
First of all, with regard to the written description
requirement, we fail to see how the specification can be
found deficient inasmuch as all the relevant claim
limitations apparently are described verbatim in the
specification.
As for enablement, the claims appear to be limited
to use of those etchant solutions which are capable of
exhibiting the recited terminal etch rate, and there is
no dispute that appellant has disclosed at least one
particular etchant solution that satisfies this criteria,
i.e., the preferred etchant composition. In other words,
we read the claims as being limited to using only etchant
solutions which are conducive to reaching the recited
terminal etch rate, viz., the claims are limited to
operable embodiments.
In this regard, it must be borne in mind that in
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