Appeal No. 2002-1360 Page 6
Application No. 09/133,942
under appropriate conditions, the resulting complexes may precipitate. If,
however, the antigens are particulate (for example, bacteria or red blood cells),
they will agglutinate (clump).” Page 122.
Tizard describes a precipitation reaction as follows: “If a suitable amount
of a clear solution of soluble antigen is mixed with its antisera and incubated at
37°C, the mixture becomes cloudy within a few minutes, then flocculent, and
within an hour or so a precipitate settles to the bottom of the tube.” Id.
Agglutination is similar, but results from “mixing a suspension of antigenic
particles, such as bacteria, with antiserum. Antibody combines rapidly with the
particles, the primary interaction, but agglutination is a much slower process,
since adherence between particles occurs only when they touch each other.”
Page 131.
The instant specification describes assays in which “UTI solutions having
various concentrations of” UTI (page 8) were mixed with “Antibody Solution”
(page 9). After addition of antibody, the mixtures were allowed to react only five
minutes before the change in absorbance was measured. See page 10. Thus,
in the assays described in the specification, the reaction takes place between
soluble antigen and soluble antibody, and results can be measured in a few
minutes. Based on these characteristics, the assays described in the
specification appear to be what would normally be called “precipitation”, rather
than “agglutination”. However, an applicant is allowed to be his own
lexicographer. Since the meaning of the claim is reasonably definite when read
in light of the specification, we do not consider the claims indefinite. We will
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