Appeal No. 2002-2136 Page 5
Application No. 09/761,077
Figure 1, including the uncovered upper strip 28 and horizontally oriented line of
perforations 46 delineating a removable length portion of the upper strip, with a check
bank deposit inserted into one bag compartment and a cash bank deposit inserted into
the other bag compartment. The second paragraph of the claim, as reproduced supra,
on the other hand, recites steps of a method of using the article recited in the first
paragraph, such as inscribing and removing the removable length portion of the upper
strip and inserting it into the second bag compartment, adhesively closing the second
bag compartment and manually depositing the second bag compartment in a night
bank repository.
The purpose of the second paragraph of Section 112 is to basically insure, with a
reasonable degree of particularity, an adequate notification, to those who would
endeavor in the future to approach the area circumscribed by the claims of a patent, of
the metes and bounds of what is being claimed so that they may readily and accurately
evaluate the possibility of infringement and dominance. See In re Hammack, 427 F.2d
1378, 1382, 166 USPQ 204, 208 (CCPA 1970). We also note that the statutory class
of invention is important in determining patentability and infringement. As indicated by
the court in In re Kuehl, 475 F.2d 658, 665, 177 USPQ 250, 255 (CCPA 1973), “each
statutory class of claims must be considered independently on its own merits.”
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