Appeal 2006-2578
Application 09/811,970
ISSUE
Is the “continuous roll of inner wall material of the well”
requirement of the independent claims satisfied by the shoulder 17 feature
of Bowers’ filtration device?
PRINCIPLE OF LAW
During examination proceedings, claims are given their broadest
reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification. In re Hyatt,
211 F.3d 1367, 1372, 54 USPQ 1664, 1667 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
ANALYSIS
As indicated previously, it is undisputed that Bowers discloses a
filtration device having wells comprising annular members 96 with
shoulders 17 that are positioned against a top of filter 70 to hold the filter in
place (Fig. 11; col. 8, ll. 48-63). These shoulders, like Appellants' rolls or
mechanical interlocks, are continuous in that they extend circumferentially
around the inner perimeter of the wells (id.). Also like Appellants' rolls or
mechanical interlocks, the shoulders constitute the inner wall material of
Bowers’ wells (id.).
As for the claim term "roll," we observe that Appellants' Specification
discloses holding the well filter in place with a mechanical inner lock
comprising a portion of the well inner wall which has been skived and rolled
on top of the filter (Specification 3, last para.). With reference to Figure 4,
the Specification also discloses the formation of a continuous roll 34
(Specification 6, 3rd para.) which is depicted in the Figure as skived wall
material rolled up on the form of a cylinder. Finally, the Specification
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Last modified: September 9, 2013