Appeal No. 2001-0661 4
Application No. 08/480,232
“petal” regions. Be that as it may, we nonetheless share appellants’ view that these
circumstances alone are insufficient to establish anticipation of the subject matter of claim
1. Our determination in this regard hinges on exactly what the broadest reasonable
interpretation of the term “rigid region” in claim 1 would be to one of ordinary skill in the art.
In proceeding before it, the PTO applies to the verbiage of claims the broadest
reasonable meaning of the words in their ordinary usage as they would be understood by
one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into account whatever enlightenment by way of
definitions or otherwise that may be afforded by the written description contained in the
applicants’ specification. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027
(Fed. Cir. 1997). We are informed by appellants’ disclosure that the housings 12, 14,
which correspond to the “rigid regions” of claim 1
are substantially incapable of conforming to the contour of the underlying
skin surface and, but for hinge 16, would eventually cause the underlying
adhesive sheet 18 . . . either to peel away from the skin, or pull on the skin
and thereby cause discomfort for the wearer as a result of normal body
movement. [Specification, page 12.]
We are further informed by appellants’ disclosure that
[t]he term “rigid” when used in describing a portion or zone of an
electrotransport system means that the portion or zone has sufficient
stiffness so as to be incapable of adhering to a body surface (e.g., the skin)
of a patient using a biocompatible and pharmaceutically acceptable contact
adhesive without injury to the body surface or identifiable patient discomfort,
throughout the normal range of body motion. In other words, a “rigid” zone
of an electrotransport system is prone to peel from the skin, or alternatively
to undergo delamination of adjacent layers within the rigid zone of the
system, thereby interfering with the desired agent or delivery system.
[Specification, page 13.]
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