Appeal No. 2004-0367
Application No. 09/733,359
dorsal carpal tunnel splint which limits wrist flexion and
extension, wherein the splint includes an elongated stiff splint
member which is arcuate in lateral cross section and has an
"unbroken length and lateral breadth sufficient to engage a major
portion of the dorsal outer surfaces of the lower forearm, the
wrist, and the hand of the wearer, by the upper end, the center
portion, and the lower end of the splint element, respectively,"
as set forth in independent claim 1 on appeal, and in similar
language in independent claim 11.
Before the USPTO, when evaluating claim language during
examination of an application, the examiner is required to give
the terminology of the claims its broadest reasonable
interpretation consistent with the specification, and to remember
that the claim language cannot be read in a vacuum, but instead
must be read in light of the specification as it would be
interpreted and understood by one of ordinary skill in the
pertinent art. See In re Sneed, 710 F.2d 1544, 1548, 218 USPQ
385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1983); In re Bond, 910 F.2d 831, 833, 15
USPQ2d 1566, 1567 (Fed. Cir. 1990) and In re Morris, 127 F.3d
1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997). This the
examiner has clearly not done in the present case.
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