Appeal No. 1999-0869
Application 08/644,608
statement of the Examiner's position, and to the Brief (Paper
No. 15) (pages referred to as "Br__") and the Reply Brief
(Paper No. 17) for a statement of Appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
Written description
The written description rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
first paragraph, is used to reject when a claim is amended to
recite elements thought to be without support in the original
disclosure. In re Rasmussen, 650 F.2d 1212, 1214-15,
211 USPQ 323, 326 (CCPA 1981). "Satisfaction of the
description requirement insures that subject matter presented
in the form of a claim subsequent to the filing date of the
application was sufficiently disclosed at the time of filing
so that the prima facie date of invention can fairly be held
to be the filing date of the application." Vas-Cath, Inc. v.
Mahurkar, 935 F.2d 1555, 1562, 19 UPSQ2d 1111, 1115 (Fed. Cir.
1991), citing In re Smith, 481 F.2d 910, 914, 178 USPQ 620,
623 (CCPA 1973). Written description is a question of fact.
Vas-Cath, 935 F.2d at 1563, 19 USPQ2d at 1116.
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