Appeal No. 1999-0944
Application No. 08/890,252
claims 1-4 under the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112.
(2) Does the addition to the specification at page
11, line 33 through page 12, line 4 violate the
prohibition against the introduction of new matter
into an application for reissue found in the first
paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 251?
At page 1, line 33, of the specification, appellants have
added to the disclosure a reference to “alternative
embodiments” that include, inter alia, stanchions “of a type
known in the art” in place of the stanchion 52. In our
opinion, there is no support in the original patent disclosure
for such “alternative embodiments.” In addition, we note that
appellants, of their own volition and without explanation,
canceled a similar addition to the specification of related
copending reissue application SN 08/890,263, thus raising the
question of whether appellants themselves consider this
addition to have proper support in the disclosure of the
original patent. Accordingly, the examiner should (1)
carefully consider whether the addition in question complies
with the reissue statute, and (2) if not, enter an objection
to the specification under 35 U.S.C. § 251.
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