Appeal No. 95-0423
Application 07/696,859
control fluid flow from the eye so as to permit the
treatment of glaucoma. The fluid flow is controlled
by the aperture in the shunt, thus this aperture
reads as the claimed “fluid flow control means.”
This flow control means is carried by the shunt
means. [answer, pages 7-8]
We cannot accept this position. In accordance with In re
Donaldson Co., Inc., 16 F.3d 1189, 29 USPQ2d 1845 (Fed. Cir.
1994), the means for controlling flow of claims 1 and 20, and
the step of controlling flow of claim 32, must be interpreted
in accordance with the sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112,
i.e., “construed to cover the corresponding structure . . . or
acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.”
Appellant’s specification makes clear that the means for and
act of controlling flow between the high and low pressure
chambers is separate and distinct from the means for and act
of merely placing these two chambers in communication via the
aperture in the shunt. See page 5, lines 6-15 of appellant’s
specification, wherein it is stated that according to a broad
aspect of the invention hollow shunt means is engaged with the
membrane to establish communication between the chambers, and
lines 16-24 wherein it is stated that according to a further
aspect of the invention the shunt means can carry means for
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