Appeal 2006-2547
Application 10/095,409
Patent 6,237,775
1
2 Hatch’s Figure 1 depicts a food pan.
3 Appellants' "application need not describe the claimed subject matter in
4 exactly the same terms as used in the claims. . . ." Eiselstein v. Frank, 52
5 F.3d 1035, 1038, 34 USPQ2d 1467, 1470 (Fed. Cir. 1995). Instead, the
6 written description requirement can be satisfied by "words, structures,
7 figures, diagrams, formulas, etc." Lockwood v. Am. Airlines, Inc. 107 F.3d
8 1565, 1572, 41 USPQ2d 1961, 1966 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (emphasis added).
9 Here, we agree with Appellants (Appeal Br. 4; Reply Br. 3) that the "upper
10 portion" recited in claim 24, which abuts "the upper edge" and "includes at
11 least one vent" is described in the specification and illustrated in Figure 1 as
12 the upper area or "upper end 14" of the side wall and includes at least one
13 vent 16. Neither Appellants nor the Examiner have provided a substantive
14 discussion of the "abutting structure" referred to by the Examiner (Answer,
15 4). However, Figure 1 reasonably conveys a structure, such as an
16 unnumbered upper edge or lip on pan 10 which abuts the upper area or upper
17 end 14 of the sidewall, to one of ordinary skill in the art.
6
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