Appeal NO. 1996-3683
Application 08/207,393
groups" present in the binder.2
At the time appellants filed their application, any
organic chemist of ordinary skill in the art would have
understood the term "carboxyl group" to be the carboxylic acid
radical -COOH. Thus, it is not entirely clear to what the term
"free" refers in the phrase "free carboxyl groups" since, by
definition, a carboxyl group is "free" because it is not bound
to any other moiety as in, for example, an ester, amide or a
salt. Thus, appellants' disclosure at page 9 of their
specification would seem to be directed to carboxylic acid-
containing compounds useful as binders.
Considered with the disclosure at pages 13 and 14, it
appears that the binders are either themselves liquid
compounds which may be applied to the fibers neat or the
binders may be "applied in liquid form" to the fibers as
emulsions or solutions. As we understand the term "free
Original claims constitute part of the original2
disclosure of a patent application. See In re Gardner,
475 F.2d 1389, 1391, 177 USPQ 396, 397 (CCPA 1973); In
re Anderson,
471 F.2d 1237, 1238, 1239, 176 USPQ 331, 332 (CCPA
1973);
In re Myers, 410 F.2d 420, 427, 161 USPQ 668, 673 (CCPA
1969).
9
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