Ex Parte Hatch et al - Page 5

                Appeal  2006-2547                                                                             
                Application 10/095,409                                                                        
                Patent 6,237,775                                                                              
           1          Compliance with § 112 requires sufficient information in the                            
           2    specification to show that Appellants possessed the invention as of the time                  
           3    of the original disclosure.  See Vas-Cath Inc. v. Mahurkar, 935 F.2d 1555,                    
           4    1561, 19 USPQ2d 1111, 1115 (Fed. Cir. 1991) ("Adequate description of the                     
           5    invention guards against the inventor's overreaching by insisting that he                     
           6    recount his invention in such detail that his future claims can be determined                 
           7    to be encompassed by within his original creation.").  "The written                           
           8    description requirement does not require the applicant 'to describe exactly                   
           9    the subject matter claimed, [instead] the description must clearly allow                      
          10    persons of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that [he or she] invented                   
          11    what is claimed.'"  In re Gosteli, 872 F.2d 1008, 1012, 10 USPQ2d 1614,                       
          12    1618 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (citations omitted).                                                    
          13          With respect to the "upper portion abutting the upper edge" limitation                  
          14    of claim 24, Figure 1 illustrates a food pan 10 having a side wall comprising                 
          15    an upper end 14 or upper area that includes at least one louvered vent 16                     
          16    (specification, col. 2, ll. 35-44 and col. 3, l. 17) as well as an unnumbered                 
          17    upper edge or rim abutting the upper area or upper end 14 of the sidewall.                    
          18                              Hatch’s Figure 1 is reproduced below:                               
          19                                                                                                 










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