Appeal No. 93-2757
Application 07/908,856
Claims 7 through 13 define a process for manufacturing
camomile oil having a high content of natural spiroethers,
wherein the manipulative step comprises subjecting “an
extraction residue of a camomile extraction” to steam or
aqueous distillation. The relatively broad phrase “an
extraction residue of a camomile extraction” places no
restriction on the nature or parameters of the extraction
step. Furthermore, the extraction residue may be, for
example, a dry residue. See the instant specification, page
8, second full paragraph.
Giving these claims their broadest reasonable
interpretation consistent with the specification, In re Sneed,
710 F.2d 1544, 1548, 218 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983), we
conclude that appellants’ starting material “reads on” the
dried camomile flowerheads or drug of the camomile as disclosed
by GB 2 170 404 A in Example 1, page 13, lines 4 through 18.
Simply stated, we discern no limitation in claims 7 through 13
serving to distinguish “an extraction residue of a camomile
extraction” from the dried flowerheads disclosed by the
reference. Again, during patent examination, pending claims
must be interpreted as broadly as their terms reasonably allow.
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