Ex parte DE GROOT - Page 5




          Appeal No. 97-2222                                                          
          Application 08/380,661                                                      


               ATWELL, it is the extremities of the bars 5, 6 which                   
               are only lightly secured to the nails (page 1, lines                   
               95-97). [Brief, pages 4 and 5.]                                        
               We are unpersuaded by the appellant's arguments.  The                  
          terminology in a pending application's claims is to be given                
          its broadest reasonable interpretation (see In re Zletz, 893                
          F.2d 319, 321, 13 USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989)) and                   
          limitations from a pending application's specification will                 
          not be read into the claims (see Sjolund v. Musland, 847 F.2d               
          1573, 1581-82, 6 USPQ2d 2020, 2027 (Fed. Cir. 1988)).                       
          Moreover, anticipation by a prior art reference does not                    
          require either the inventive concept of the claimed subject                 
          matter or the recognition of inherent properties that may be                
          possessed by the prior art reference.  See Verdegaal Bros.,                 
          Inc. v. Union Oil Co., 814 F.2d 628, 633, 2 USPQ2d 1051, 1054               
          (Fed. Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 827 (1987).  A prior               
          art reference anticipates the subject matter of                             




          a claim when that reference discloses every feature of the                  
          claimed invention, either explicitly or inherently (see Hazani              


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