Appeal No. 1998-3006 Page 8
Application No. 08/586,977
"elongated members" in claim 1 rendered the claim indefinite.
We agree with the examiner. In our opinion, the phrase
"elongated members such as ropes and lines" is indefinite
since the metes and bounds thereof would not be known with a
reasonable degree of precision and particularity. In that
regard, it is not clear if the phrase "elongated members such
as ropes and lines" covers
(1) all elongated members, (2) just ropes and lines, or
(3) ropes, lines and some other elongated members which for
some unexplained reason are like a rope or a line. Accord Ex
parte Steigerwald, 131 USPQ 74, 75 (Bd. App. 1961) and Ex
parte Hall, 83 USPQ 38, 39 (Bd. App. 1948). See also, Ex
parte Wu, 10 USPQ2d 2031, 2033 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 1989).
With respect to claim 9, the appellants argue (brief, pp.
7-8) that the phrase "or the like" is recited in a statement
of intended use and "should not be subjected to the same
scrutiny as structural elements of the claimed invention." In
addition, the appellants state that the phrase "nautical line
or the like" would be understood to mean nautical line and
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