Appeal No. 96-0022
Application 08/096,214
... whether the claims do, in fact, set
out and circumscribe a particular area
with a reasonable degree of precision
and particularity.... [t]he definiteness
of the language employed must be
analyzed--not in a vacuum, but always in
light of the teachings of the prior art
and of the particular application
disclosure as it would be interpreted by
one possessing the ordinary level of
skill in the pertinent art.
In the instant case, the examiner is of the opinion
that the recitation "like a torpedo" in claim 43 is indefinite
since a torpedo can assume a variety of shapes. In regard to the
appellants argument that a torpedo is defined in Websters Third
New International Dictionary to be shaped like a cigar, the
examiner states that cigars can also assume a variety of shapes.
The examiner also states that it is not readily apparent that
element 61 is shaped like a torpedo or like a cigar in Figures 9-
11 and that the term torpedo is never used to describe magnet 61
in the specification.
We do not agree with the examiner. Contrary to the
assertion of the examiner, the specification at page 4 discloses
that the magnetic means has a torpedo-like shape. In our view,
this disclosure along with the depiction of magnetic means 61 in
Figure 11 provide adequate notice of the shape of the magnetic
means to those who would endeavor, in future enterprise to
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