Appeal No. 96-0643
Application 08/103,677
two-sided.
Suzuki’s moving means are motor 4 and steel band 5. These are equivalent to appellants’
disclosed moving means (motor 74 and link member 90).
Appellants argue that Suzuki does not teach a moving means “substantially within a length” of
the disk cartridge. We disagree.
Claims undergoing examination are given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent
with the specification, and limitations appearing in the specification are not to be read into the claims.
In re Etter, 756 F.2d 852, 858, 225 USPQ 1, 5 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (in banc). In the present case,
“substantially within a length” includes Suzuki’s moving means which are shown in the drawings as
about forty percent within a length of the disk cartridge. Thus far, appellants have pointed to nothing in
the specification with which this interpretation is inconsistent. Thus, we find that Suzuki’s moving means
is “substantially within a length” of the disk cartridge.
Moreover, even if “substantially” required more than half, Suzuki suggests overlapping to a
greater degree than shown in Suzuki’s drawings, in order to reduce the total length of the entire device.
Suzuki (translation) at 5, lines 2-7. Thus, Suzuki suggests making a moving means more than fifty
percent within the length of the disk cartridge.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007