Interference No. 101,981
cannot contain any more that 10% of these impurities. In other
words, like Beyers, Qadri is interpreting the count as though it
required the material to contain at least 90% of a consistently
uniform A1B2Cu307 phase. We do not agree. The count requires that
the composition contain at least 90% of a single superconducting
phase which exhibits the stated superconductive property. It
does not require that 90% of the composition must exhibit this
property uniformly, consistently or homogeneously. It need only
be superconductive and exhibit the stated property. This broad
interpretation is reasonable. “[T]he broadest interpretation is
always applicable so long as it is reasonable,” DeGeorge v.
Bernier, 768 F.2d at 1321, 226 USPQ at 761.
We understand the junior parties’ concern that the broad
interpretation we are giving the count invites the possibility
that the count reads on, for example, samples with a thin surface
layer of A1B2Cu307 surrounding an oxygen-poor interior (BeB 7) or
a composition with more than 10% of Ortho II (QRB 6). Whether
these or other species are included in the count depends not on
the amount or distribution of A 1B2Cu307 in the composition but on
their capacity to exhibit zero resistance at 70K or above and
contain at least 90% of AB2Cu3Oy; at least 90% of the composition
must be the single phase orthorhombic form and exhibit the stated
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