Appeal No. 1997-3908
Application 08/174,997
appellants that the aforementioned rejections are not well
founded. Accordingly, we reverse these rejections.
Each of appellants’ independent claims requires
“contacting an electron donor containing silicon with an
organoaluminum co-catalyst compound”. Appellants point out
that Fujita’s electron donor is an internal electron donor
used to prepare the Ziegler-Natta catalyst (col. 5, lines 5-
65), and argue that appellants’ electron donor is an external
electron donor which is used in the polymerization and is a
selectivity control agent for stereoregulation in the
polymerization reaction (brief, pages
5-6).
During patent prosecution, claims are to be given their
broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the
specification. See In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321, 13 USPQ2d
1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989); In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1548,
218 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983); In re Herz, 537 F.2d 549,
551, 190 USPQ 461, 463 (CCPA 1976); In re Okuzawa, 537 F.2d
545, 548, 190 USPQ 464, 466 (CCPA 1976). Appellants’
specification states that “[t]he term ‘electron donor’ as used
4
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