Appeal No. 1999-0610 Page 11
Application No. 08/601,186
our attention to appellants' claim 49 to derive an
understanding of the scope and content thereof.
Further, in proceedings before it, the PTO applies to the
verbiage of the proposed claims the broadest reasonable
meaning of the words in their ordinary usage as they would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into
account whatever enlightenment by way of definitions or
otherwise that may be afforded by the written description
contained in the applicant's specification. In re Morris, 127
F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997).
Claim 49 requires a "lubricious coating" on the distal
segment of the catheter assembly. We interpret the term
"lubricious" as used in the claims as a term of art describing
a surface presenting a low coefficient of friction. In other
words, one of ordinary skill in the art reading the
appellants' disclosure (note specification, pages 17 through
19, and page 3, lines 29 and 30), would have understood a
"lubricious" coating to be a coating presenting a coefficient
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