Ex Parte Ichihashi et al - Page 3




          Appeal No. 2003-2034                                                        
          Application No. 09/667,727                                                  


                                       OPINION                                        


               In reaching our conclusion on the issues raised in this                
          appeal, this panel of the Board has carefully considered                    
          appellants' specification and claims, the applied teachings,2 and           
          the respective viewpoints of appellants and the examiner.  As a             
          consequence of our review, we make the determinations which                 
          follow.                                                                     


                              The indefiniteness issue                                


               We do not sustain the rejection of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C.             
          § 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite.                               


               The examiner is of the view that the phrase in line 9 of               
          claim 3, "in an erected posture", is indefinite (page 2, Paper              


               2 In our evaluation of the applied prior art, we have                  
          considered all of the disclosure of each document for what it               
          would have fairly taught one of ordinary skill in the art.  See             
          In re Boe, 355 F.2d 961, 965, 148 USPQ 507, 510 (CCPA 1966).                
          Additionally, this panel of the Board has taken into account not            
          only the specific teachings, but also the inferences which one              
          skilled in the art would reasonably have been expected to draw              
          from the disclosure.  See In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826,                   
          159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968).                                              

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