Appeal No. 1998-1562 Page 12
Application No. 08/611,416
be read into the claims from the specification. In re Van
Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 1184, 26 USPQ2d 1057, 1059 (Fed. Cir.
1993) citing In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321, 13 USPQ2d 1320,
1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989). The pertinent definition of "lap" from
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (1979) is "a doubling or
layering of a flexible substance (as fibers or paper)." It is
our determination that the broadest reasonable interpretation
one of ordinary skill in the art would give to "lap processing
machine" consistent with the specification is a machine that
processes laps unwound from a roll thereof. It is appropriate
in our view to consider
(1) Johannsson's cores 18 with paper webs wound thereon to be
"lap rolls," and (2) Johannsson's processing machine to which
the unwound paper web 19 is led by funnel 28 to be "a lap
processing machine."
For the reasons stated above, the decision of the
examiner to reject claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is
affirmed.
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