Appeal No. 97-3294
Application 08/408,225
A consideration of the content of parent claim 1 and
claim 6 reveals to us that the subject matter of claim 6 is
definite in meaning, i.e., the metes and bounds of the claimed
subject matter is determinable, as explained below.
Claim 1 is drawn to a combination. As set forth
in claim 1, the combination includes a defined device and a
retainer. No language is present in claim 1 reflecting that
the combination is restricted exclusively to the device and
retainer. Thus, the language in dependent claim 6, i.e,
“[t]he
combination of claim 1 further comprising an instrument”,
simply and clearly sets forth, from our perspective, the
instrument as an additional entity of the open-ended
combination of claim 1. Accordingly, we perceive claim 6 to be
readily understandable and, hence, definite under 35 U.S.C. §
112, second paragraph.
The anticipation issue
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007