Appeal No. 1999-0632 Page 8
Application No. 08/744,692
weight-bearing cylindrical mounting posts (39,40) of Friedman.
In our opinion, while it would have been apparent to one of
ordinary skill in the art that the slot arrangement (100)
taught by Boundy engages one edge of the trough slot (90) to
help secure the housing (78) at the upper end thereof, one of
ordinary skill in the art would not have considered such a
securement desirable for a weight-bearing junction between the
upper end of the mounting post (39,40) and a modular unit of
the Friedman merchandise display structure.
Moreover, we do not consider reasonable the examiner's
characterization of the Friedman merchandise display structure
as a "desk" system.
Where words in the preamble of a claim are essential to
point out the invention defined in the claim, those words do
constitute a limitation which must be accorded weight in
interpreting the scope of the claim. See Kropa v. Robie, 187
F.2d 150, 152, 88 USPQ 478, 481 (CCPA 1951).
In our judgement, the words "desk system" give life and
meaning to the claim, for it is only by that phrase that it
can be known that the subject matter defined by the claim is
comprised of a desk system. Every structure comprising a work
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