Ex Parte Stout - Page 4



          Appeal No. 2004-1452                                                        
          Application No. 29/138,830                                                  
               D.  The Opinion                                                        
               As stated by our reviewing court in In re Daniels, 144 F.3d            
          1452, 1456, 46 USPQ2d 1788, 1790 (Fed. Cir. 1998):                          
                    The test for sufficiency of the written                           
                    description is the same, whether for a design or a                
                    utility patent.  This test has been expressed in                  
                    various ways; for example, “whether the disclosure of             
                    the application relied upon ‘reasonably conveys to the            
                    artisan that the inventor had possession at that time             
                    of the later claimed subject matter.’” [Citations                 
                    omitted].                                                         
          ...                                                                         
                    In general, precedent establishes that although the               
                    applicant “does not have to describe exactly the                  
                    subject matter claimed, ... the description must                  
                    clearly allow persons of ordinary skill in the art to             
                    recognize that [the applicant] invented what is                   
                    claimed.” [Citation omitted].                                     
                   It is the drawings of the design patent that                      
                    provide the description of the invention. [Citation               
                    omitted].                                                         
               The issue of whether a patent specification adequately                 
          describes the subject matter claimed is a question of fact.  See            
          Vas-Cath, Inc. v. Mahurkar, 935 F.2d 1555, 1563, 19 USPQ2d 1111,            
          1116 (Fed. Cir. 1991).  The Wagner Declaration, even couched in             
          terms of the declarant’s “opinion,” clearly is offering factual             
          evidence in an attempt to explain why one of ordinary skill in              
          this art would have understood the original drawings to support             
          the amended drawings.  See In re Alton, 76 F.3d 1168, 1175, 37              
          USPQ2d 1578, 1583 (Fed. Cir. 1996).  We determine that the Wagner           
          Declaration contains statements of fact directly addressing the             
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