Appeal No. 1999-0197
Application 08/054,970
2010, 2013-15 (Fed. Cir. 1993); Amgen, Inc. v. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.,
927 F.2d. 1200, 1212-14, 18 USPQ2d 1016, 1026-28 (Fed. Cir.), cert.
denied, 502 U.S. 856 (1991); In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d at 496, 20 USPQ2d at
1445. Enablement is lacking in those cases, the court has explained,
because the undescribed embodiments cannot be made, based on the
disclosure in the specification, without undue experimentation. But the
question of undue experimentation is a matter of degree. The fact that some
experimentation is necessary does not preclude enablement; what is
required is that the amount of experimentation “must not be unduly
extensive.” Atlas Powder Co., v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., 750 F.2d
1569, 1576, 224 USPQ 409, 413 (Fed. Cir. 1984). The Patent and
Trademark Office Board of Appeals summarized the point well when it
stated:
The test is not merely quantitative, since a considerable
amount of experimentation is permissible, if it is merely
routine, or if the specification in question provides a
reasonable amount of guidance with respect to the direction in
which the experimentation should proceed to enable the
determination of how to practice a desired embodiment of the
invention claimed.
Ex parte Jackson, 217 USPQ 804, 807 (1982).
To the extent the examiner is concerned that the claims may contain so-called
“inoperative” embodiments, the court discussed this concern in Atlas Powder Co. v. E.I.
du Pont de Nemours & Co., 750 F.2d 1569, 1576-77, 224 USPQ 409, 414 (Fed. Cir.
1984), stating:
Even if some of the claimed combinations were inoperative, the claims are
not necessarily invalid. "It is not a function of the claims to specifically
exclude . . . possible inoperative substances . . . . In re Dinh-Nguyen, 492
F.2d 856, 859-59, 181 USPQ 46, 48 (CCPA 1974) (emphasis omitted).
Accord, In re Geerdes, 491 F.2d 1260, 1265, 180 USPQ 789, 793 (CCPA
1974); In re Anderson, 471 F.2d 1237, 1242, 176 USPQ 331, 334-35
(CCPA 1971). Of course, if the number of inoperative combinations
becomes significant, and in effect forces one of ordinary skill in the art to
experiment unduly in order to practice the claimed invention, the claims
might indeed be invalid. See, e.g., In re Cook, 439 F.2d 730, 735, 169
USPQ 298, 302 (CCPA 1971).
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