Appeal No. 94-1451
Application 07/839,640
Office is required only to be reasonable, not perfect. In re
Morris, -- F.3d --, --, 43 USPQ2d 1753, 1759 (Fed. Cir. 1997).
With these legal principles in mind, we have reviewed
appellant’s claims in light of their specification. With respect
to the claim language defining the water-soluble polymer
component as a carboxylate-containing guar gum polymer,
appellant’s specification indicates at page 6, lines 2-5 that
[e]xemplary carboxylate-containing biopolymers are
xanthan gum, guar gum, succinoglycan, scleroglucan,
polyvinylsaccharides, carboxymethylcellulose, o-
carboxychitosans, hydroxyethylcellulose,
hydroxypropylcellulose and modified starches (emphasis
added).
This is the sole disclosure in the specification regarding guar
gum. Thus, when reasonably construed, the claim language in
question covers guar gum per se since, as described in the
specification guar gum is said to be a carboxylate-containing
biopolymer.
Appellant’s counsel contends in the brief at page 5 that
only certain commercially available or naturally occurring guar2
gums contain carboxylate groups. Thus, according to appellant’s
counsel, “it is only these guar gums that are suitable for use in
2This argument raises an issue under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
first paragraph, as to whether the originally filed application
enables claims of the scope presented, a matter that should be
resolved in any subsequent prosecution of this case.
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