Ex parte SICKING et al. - Page 5




          Appeal No. 98-1461                                         Page 5           
          Application No. 08/335,153                                                  


          examiner.  As a consequence of our review, we make the                      
          determinations which follow.                                                


          The indefiniteness issue                                                    
               We will not sustain the rejection of claim 21 under                    
          35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.                                          


               The second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 requires claims                
          to set out and circumscribe a particular area with a                        
          reasonable degree of precision and particularity.  In re                    
          Johnson, 558 F.2d 1008, 1015, 194 USPQ 187, 193 (CCPA 1977).                
          In making this determination, the definiteness of the language              
          employed in the claims must be analyzed, not in a vacuum, but               
          always in light of the teachings of the prior art and of the                
          particular application disclosure as it would be interpreted                
          by one possessing the ordinary level of skill in the pertinent              
          art.  Id.                                                                   














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