Appeal No. 2002-2228 Page 4
Application No. 09/555,906
“suggestion whatsoever [in Rossi] of Applicant’s conditions being treated . . .
[conditions] such as moderate to intense psychopharmacologic effects such as those
listed under the marijuana heading and [psychic] excitation, euphoria or high caused by
amphetamines3 or intense psychopharmacological dependency due to cocaine
addiction” (id., page 6). As stated in In re Herz, 537 F.2d 549, 551, 190 USPQ 461, 463
(CCPA 1976):
It is axiomatic that claims are given their broadest reasonable construction
consistent with the specification. In re Saether, 492 F.2d 849, 181 USPQ
36 (CCPA 1974). This complements the statutory requirement for
particularity and distinctness (35 USC 112, second paragraph), so that an
applicant who has not clearly limited his claims is in a weak position to
assert a narrow construction.
Representative claim 11 is not so narrow as appellant makes it out to be. The claim
merely requires administration of ginkgo extracts to alleviate “withdrawal symptoms of
substance dependency or addiction;” it does not require alleviation of any particular
symptoms of withdrawal; nor does it require treatment of withdrawal symptoms
associated with any particular substance of dependency or addiction. The art clearly
establishes that the symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol and narcotics (both of which
are encompassed by the specification’s definition of “a substance engendering
dependency and/or addiction”) include headache, anxiety, depression and confusion,
and that treatment of each of these symptoms with ginkgo biloba extracts was known.
In addition, appellant concedes that “there may be certain symptoms of
withdrawal that can be found in common with other diseases,” but argues that “there is
actually no reliable medicine for easing withdrawal symptoms of alcohol or drug
dependency while there are other drugs treating such symptoms” (Brief, page 6). If we
3 Rossi actually lists these as effects of using marijuana and amphetamines, not
withdrawal from them (see page 1293, left-hand column, and page 1294, right-hand
column).
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