Appeal No. 2004-1586
Application No. 10/132,863
claims 1 and 4, respectively (underlining added). We give these
phrases the broadest reasonable ordinary meanings relevant to the
technology disclosed in the specification inasmuch as the
specification does not define the meanings of “fixedly secured”
and “having” referred to above. According to pages 483, 1055 and
567 of Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary
(Riverside Publ. Co., 1994)5, “fixedly secured” means “well
fastened” or place securely (“free from . . . risk of loss”) and
“having” means “to possess or contain as a constituent.” Thus,
the claims in question only require that an advertising or reward
panel be fastened to a key retainer in such a manner to avoid the
risk of loss. The claims simply do not preclude fastening an
advertising or reward panel to a key retainer via, e.g., a key
tag.
In reaching this determination, we consider the appellant’s
detailed description of the preferred embodiment in the
specification regarding the employment of a link looped through a
key retainer and a hole in the panel to fasten the retainer and
the panel together. See the specification in its entirety.
However, we will not read this preferred embodiment in the
5 Attached to this decision.
6
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