Appeal No. 97-3198
Application No. 08/502,408
appellant, and therefore does not satisfy the written
description requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph.
(2) Claims 1-3 also are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, as being indefinite in that they fail to
particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter
which the appellant regards as the invention.
Because a patentee has the right to exclude others from
making, using and selling the invention covered by the patent
(35 U.S.C. 154), the public must be apprised of exactly what
the patent covers, so that those who would approach the area
circumscribed by the claims of a patent may readily and
accurately determine the boundaries of protection involved and
evaluate the possibility of infringement and dominance. It is
to this that the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112 is
directed. See In re Hammack, 427 F.2d 1378, 1382, 166 USPQ
204, 208 (CCPA 1970). It is our view that the phrase
“substantially entirely along an entire length of said side
surfaces,” which appears in independent claim 1, is
indefinite.
As we pointed out above with regard to the rejection
under the first paragraph of Section 112, the original
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007