Appeal No. 1999-0515 Page 6
Application No. 08/620,256
indefinite in that the invention clearly is for the purpose of
causing a baseball device to spin, and the baseball device that
is caused to spin has the surface appearance of a ball that is
typically pitched in playing the game, that is, a regulation
ball for the particular league in which the spinning baseball
device is to be used for training. Otherwise, the invention
would not be operable for its intended purpose, which is
training batters to recognize the spin on a ball that is
pitched to them.
As explained on page 9 of the appellant’s specification,
practice space can be saved by using a ball that is smaller
than a regulation ball, so that the distance between the
spinning ball and the batter can be shortened while still
giving the batter the appearance of a ball that is farther
away. This does not render claim 3 et al. indefinite.
Likewise, the items cited by the examiner in claims 4 and 5
with regard to the surface appearance and size of a softball in
this invention directed to a “spinning baseball device” would
have been understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and do
not render the claims indefinite.
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