Ex parte AIKENS et al. - Page 8




          Appeal No. 1997-1431                                                        
          Application No. 08/323,976                                                  


          same manner to the examiner’s position that the instant claims              
          lack utility for the purpose recited in the preamble of the                 
          claims.                                                                     
          For a consideration of a rejection made under the                           
          second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112, the general rule is that               
          a claim must set out and circumscribe a particular area with a              
          reasonable degree of precision and particularity when read in               
          light of the disclosure as it would be by the artisan.  In re               
          Moore, 439 F.2d 1232, 1235, 169 USPQ 236, 238 (CCPA 1971).                  
          Acceptability of the claim language depends on whether one of               
          ordinary skill in the art would understand what is claimed in               
          light of the specification.  Seattle Box Co., v. Industrial                 
          Crating & Packing, Inc., 731 F.2d 818, 826, 221 USPQ 568, 574               
          (Fed. Cir. 1984).                                                           
          We have read the specification and considered the                           
          appealed claims in light of the specification, and we have no               
          difficulty understanding the metes and bounds of the claimed                
          invention.  Therefore, the rejection of claims 5-17 under the               
          second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 is not sustained.                       


          The decision of the examiner rejecting claims 5-17 is                       
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