Appeal No. 1998-0236
Application No. 08/472,536
which does not extend outwardly of the end wall, as claimed”
(brief, page 31). This argument is unpersuasive.
Claim 15 recites that the end portions defining the
slot-engaging tabs “extend outwardly of the end walls” of the
furniture component without limitation as to the direction in
which the end portions extend from the end walls. As such
claim 15 is broad enough to encompass end portions which
extend in any direction from the end walls, including the
direction in which the end portions extend from back edges of
the end walls in a direction parallel to planes containing the
end walls.
In Novitski’s furniture system, the back wall’s base 17
extends outwardly from the back edge of the cabinet’s side
walls or end walls, as appellant describes them. Thus, when
the claim language is given its broadest reasonable
interpretation (See In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321, 13 USPQ2d
1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989)) without reading limitations from
the specification into the claim (See In re Van Geuns, 988
F.2d 1181, 1184, 26 USPQ2d 1057, 1059 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and
Sjolund v. Musland, 847 F.2d 1573, 1581-82, 6 USPQ2d 2020,
2027 (Fed. Cir. 1988)), the recitation that the end portions
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