Appeal No. 1998-1658
Application 08/343,876
USPQ 247, 254 (CCPA 1967) ("This court has uniformly followed
the sound rule that an issue raised below which is not argued in
this court, even if it has been properly brought here by a reason
of appeal, is regarded as abandoned and will not be considered.
It is our function as a court to decide disputed issues, not to
create them."); In re Wiseman, 596 F.2d 1019, 1022, 201 USPQ 658,
661 (CCPA 1979) (arguments must first be presented to the Board
before they can be argued on appeal).
Claim interpretation
Initially, claims 1 and 8 do not appear to define the
direction of the principal axis of the magnetic anisotropy with
respect to the running direction of the recording medium.
Appellants' figures 1A and 1B show the "normal direction" and
"reverse direction" with respect to the inclination of the
principal axis of magnetic anisotropy. However, the limitation
"run in a normal direction with respect to said magnetic
recording medium" in claim 1 is not defined and can be
interpreted broadly as the direction of the head relative to the
tape during normal recording and/or reproducing. Similarly, the
limitation "normal running direction of said recording medium" in
claim 8 is not defined and can be interpreted broadly as the
direction of the recording medium relative to the head during
normal recording and/or reproducing. That is, it is known that
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