Ex parte PATEL et al. - Page 19




          Appeal No. 98-1458                                        Page 19           
          Application No. 08/499,211                                                  


          extending back to said nailhem plane and terminating thereat"               
          recited in claim 11 lacks written description support in the                
          original disclosure.                                                        


               The written description requirement serves "to ensure                  
          that the inventor had possession, as of the filing date of the              
          application relied on, of the specific subject matter later                 
          claimed by him; how the specification accomplishes this is not              
          material."  In re Wertheim,  541 F.2d 257, 262, 191 USPQ 90,                
          96 (CCPA 1976).  In order to meet the written description                   
          requirement, the appellants do not have to utilize any                      
          particular form of disclosure to describe the subject matter                
          claimed, but "the description must clearly allow persons of                 
          ordinary skill in the art to recognize that [he or  she]                    
          invented what is claimed."  In re Gosteli, 872 F.2d 1008,                   
          1012, 10 USPQ2d 1614, 1618 (Fed. Cir. 1989).  Put another way,              
          "the applicant must . . . convey with reasonable clarity to                 
          those skilled in the art that, as of the filing date sought,                
          he or she was in possession of the invention."  Vas-Cath, Inc.              
          v. Mahurkar, 935 F.2d 1555, 1563-64, 19 USPQ2d 1111, 1117                   
          (Fed. Cir. 1991).  Further, the content of the drawings must                







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