Appeal No. 98-0685
Application No. 08/513,529
the possibility of infringement and dominance. In re Hammack,
427 F.2d 1378, 1382, 166 USPQ 204, 208 (CCPA 1970).
Turning to the claimed subject matter, independent claim
1 requires that the pin forming the connecting body engage the
rotary drive shaft of the screwing tool "in said [at least
partially] annular groove in a positively locking manner in a
region of said edges" (emphasis added). Where, as here,3
words of degree are used (i.e., "in a region of"), it is
necessary to determine whether the specification provides some
standard for measuring that degree. Seattle Box Company, Inc.
v. Industrial Crating & Packing, Inc., 731 F.2d 818, 826, 221
USPQ 568, 574 (Fed. Cir. 1984). Reviewing the appellant's
specification, we find no explicit guidelines to enable one
skilled in the art to make a determination of what portion of
the groove (which may or may not extend around the entire
3The term "edges" apparently refers to the corners formed
by two intersecting sides of the "polygonal insert" (i.e., the
polygonally-shaped end of the drive shaft). We also observe
that the recitation of an "at least partially annular groove"
(1) does not define over an arrangement wherein the groove
extends around the entire outer periphery of the polygonal
insert and (2) appears to be misdescriptive since a groove on
the outer periphery of a polygonal insert is not "annular."
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