Appeal No. 2002-1677 Page 4
Application No. 08/944,817
The examiner identified the omitted element as a clamp which, at a minimum, appears
to be necessary to assemble the claimed elements into a single system.
The appellant argues (brief, p. 7; reply brief, p. 3) that claims 1 to 11 provide a
reasonable degree of precision and particularity in reciting the claimed subject matter
and thus comply with the requirements of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C.
§ 112.
The second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 requires claims to set out and
circumscribe a particular area with a reasonable degree of precision and particularity.
In re Johnson, 558 F.2d 1008, 1015, 194 USPQ 187, 193 (CCPA 1977). In making this
determination, the definiteness of the language employed in the claims must be
analyzed, not in a vacuum, but always in light of the teachings of the prior art and of the
particular application disclosure as it would be interpreted by one possessing the
ordinary level of skill in the pertinent art. Id.
The examiner's focus during examination of claims for compliance with the
requirement for definiteness of 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, is whether the
claims meet the threshold requirements of clarity and precision, not whether more
suitable language or modes of expression are available. Some latitude in the manner
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