Appeal No. 2002-0747 Page 6
Application No. 09/006,982
In this rejection, claims 1-27 are considered by the examiner to be indefinite3
under the second paragraph of Section 112 for four reasons. The first of these is that
the statement in claim 1 that “said axis of air flow is substantially perpendicular to the
forces of gravity” is indefinite “since the Earth is subject to the forces of gravity of many
nearby heavenly bodies and it is not stipulated as to which force it is or could be
perpendicular too [sic], e.g. the Sun (Sol),. [sic] the Moon or maybe the Earth’s own?”
(Answer, page 5). The question here is whether one of ordinary skill in the art would
understand the phrase in issue to refer to anything other than the earth’s gravity, and
without any hesitation we answer it in the negative. We do not agree with the examiner
that this language renders the claims indefinite.
The second issue raised by the examiner is that there is “insufficient antecedent
basis” in claim 1 for the limitation “the forces of gravity” (Answer, page 5). Again, it is
our view that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand what is meant by this
language, even absent prior definition in the claim, and therefore its presence does not
cause the claim to be indefinite.
The examiner also expresses the view (Answer, page 5) that there is “insufficient
antecedent basis” for the limitation “the cross-sectional area” in claim 16, which renders
3 The second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 requires claims to set out and circumscribe a
particular area with a reasonable degree of precision and particularity. In re Johnson, 558 F.2d 1008,
1015, 194 USPQ 187, 193 (CCPA 1977). In making this determination, the definiteness of the language
employed in the claims 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. Id.
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