Appeal No. 96-1536
Application 08/136,241
The only rejections before us for our consideration
are not founded on prior art. Accordingly, there are no
references of record which are being relied on by the
examiner.
Claim 2 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, on the grounds that the subject matter now claimed
is not described in appellants' original disclosure. Claims 1
through 3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 251 on the grounds
that there is no "reissuable error" (see page 3 of the
Answer).
Because the examiner's rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 251 is
founded entirely on the position taken by the examiner with
respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, all the
rejections stand or fall with the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §
112. We reverse.
The function of the "written description"
requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, is to ensure
that applicants had possession, as of the filing date of the
application relied on, of the subject matter later claimed by
them. In re Blaser, 556 F.2d 534, 537, 194 USPQ 122, 124, 125
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