Appeal No. 1999-1834 Page 7
Application No. 08/876,030
Indeed, the fundamental purpose of a patent claim is to
define the scope of protection and hence what the claim3
precludes others from doing. All things considered, because a
patentee has the right to exclude others from making, using
and selling the invention covered by a United States letters
patent, the public must be apprised of what the patent covers,
so that those who approach the area circumscribed by the
claims of a patent may more readily and accurately determine
the boundaries of protection in evaluating the possibility of
infringement and dominance. See In re Hammack, 427 F.2d 1378,
1382, 166 USPQ 204, 208 (CCPA 1970).
We remand this application to the examiner to determine
if the disclosure provides either explicit or implicit
guidelines defining the terminology "highly calendering"
(claim 17). If such guidelines do not exist, it would appear
that a skilled person would not be able to determine the metes
3 See In re Vamco Machine & Tool, Inc., 752 F.2d 1564, 224
USPQ 617 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
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