Appeal No. 99-0629 Page 15
Application No. 08/778,059
port, thereby permitting selective flow from each chamber, so
that "various fluids may be utilized, such as fluids with
water soluble dyes to impart a desired effect upon a target"
(column 4, lines 34 to 40). As the Breneman apparatus is
directed to expulsion of solid projectiles, we are of the
opinion that the teaching by Wilson to use multiple
pressurized chambers, outlet ports and trigger valves for
selective use of various fluids would not have motivated one
of ordinary skill in the art to modify the Breneman apparatus
to provide multiple barrels and firing mechanisms.
REMAND TO THE EXAMINER
The application is remanded to the examiner to consider,
on the record: (1) the applicability of the "recapture
doctrine" in this application and (2) the applicability of
prior art references teaching multiple-barrel projectile
devices to the reissue claims.
(1) The recapture rule
An attorney's failure to appreciate the full scope of the
invention qualifies as an error under 35 U.S.C. § 251 and is
correctable by reissue. In re Wilder, 736 F.2d 1516, 1519,
222 USPQ 369, 370-71 (Fed. Cir. 1984). Nevertheless,
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