Appeal No. 1998-0210
Application No. 08/149,193
Under the authority of 37 CFR 1.196(b), this panel of the
Board introduces the following new grounds of rejection.
Claims 123 through 127, 132, and 133 are rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as being based upon an
underlying disclosure which lacks descriptive support for the
invention now claimed. 17
Appellants claimed “traction means” was introduced into
the application subsequent to the filing thereof (Papers Nos.
20 and 24). By operation of law (35 U.S.C. § 112, sixth
paragraph), a means plus function recitation is construed to
cover the corresponding structure, material or acts described
in a specification and equivalents thereof. Addressing the
particular facts of the present case, appellants only
disclosed “ribs”, with no mention whatsoever of any
alternatives or equivalents thereof at the time of the filing
of the application. Thus, one skilled
17Of interest, we simply note the Supplemental
Examination Guidelines for Determining the Applicability of 35
U.S.C. § 112 § 6 at 1236 O.G. 98, July 25, 2000.
29
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