Ex Parte Moffett - Page 3




          Appeal No. 2003-0746                                                        
          Application No. 09/898,437                                                  


          decision, appellant’s specification attaches no criticality to              
          the choice of flocculating materials.  Chung evidences that the             
          claimed materials were known in the art as flocculating agents.             

               Appellant also submits that we overlooked the claims in                
          concluding that the claims do not preclude the addition of                  
          aluminum-containing chemicals.  According to appellant, the                 
          recitation of the Markush group effectively confines the metal              
          ions to zinc and manganese ions.  However, the “comprising”                 
          language of the claims “opens” the claims to the addition of                
          compounds in addition to the recited zinc and manganese ions.  As           
          for appellant’s statement that “claims are interpreted from the             
          specification and prosecution estoppel applies” (page 3 of                  
          request, penultimate paragraph), it is well settled that                    
          limitations from the specification are not to be read into the              
          claims.  In re Etter, 756 F.2d 852, 225 USPQ 1 (Fed. Cir.),                 
          cert. denied, 474 U.S. 828 (1985).                                          
               Appellant also contends that “[c]ontrary to the Board’s                
          statement, Chung does not disclose bentonite and a                          
          polyacrylamide” (page 4 of request, 2nd paragraph).  We addressed           
          this argument at the sentence bridging pages 6 and 7 of the                 
          decision.  We recognized that Chung does not expressly disclose a           

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