Appeal No. 2003-1725
Application No. 09/357,645 Page 20
occluder in the open configuration, shown in Fig. 1,
the force applied to spring plates by the air pressure
in the bladder, during expansion to the configuration
illustrated in Fig. 2, will have a component thereof
oriented parallel to longitudinal axis of the tubing
being occluded.
Where appellants disagree with the examiner is in
appellants’ position that claim 22 additionally requires that
the component of the force that is parallel to the longitudinal
axis is applied by the force actuator to bend the occluding
member. In appellants’ view, that second requirement of claim 22
is not taught in Payne.
We are not persuaded by that argument of appellants. In
this regard, we observe that in determining the patentability of
claims, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) gives claim
language its “broadest reasonable interpretation” consistent with
the specification and claims. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054,
44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (citations omitted). Here,
we determine that the language of claim 22 is open to another
reasonable and broader interpretation as to the applied force
bending the occluding member. The language “apply a force to the
occluding member in a direction having a component parallel to a
longitudinal axis of the collapsible tube to bend the occluding
member” is consistent with the force being applied in a direction
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