Appeal No. 2000-0182 Page 13
Application No. 08/831,327
against the potential use of such terms as the proverbial nose of
wax.4
In Seattle Box, the court set forth the following
requirements for terms of degree:
When a word of degree is used the district court must
determine whether the patent's specification provides
some standard for measuring that degree. The trial
court must decide, that is, whether one of ordinary
skill in the art would understand what is claimed when
the claim is read in light of the specification.
In Shatterproof Glass Corp. v. Libbey-Owens Ford Co., 758
F.2d 613, 624, 225 USPQ 634, 641 (Fed. Cir. 1985), the court
added:
If the claims, read in light of the specifications
[sic], reasonably apprise those skilled in the art both
of the utilization and scope of the invention, and if
the language is as precise as the subject matter
permits, the courts can demand no more.
4 See White v. Dunbar, 119 U.S. 47, 51-52 (1886) and
Townsend Engineering Co. v. HiTec Co. Ltd., 829 F.2d 1086, 1089-
91, 4 USPQ2d 1136, 1139-40 (Fed. Cir. 1987).
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