Appeal No. 2004-0984
Application No. 09/501,970 Page 9
application should not be imported or read into a claim must be
followed. See In re Priest, 582 F.2d 33, 37, 199 USPQ 11, 15
(CCPA 1978). One must be careful not to confuse impermissible
imputing of limitations from the specification into a claim with
the proper reference to the specification to determine the
meaning of a particular word or phrase recited in a claim. See
E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 849 F.2d
1430, 1433, 7 USPQ2d 1129, 1131 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488
U.S. 986 (1988).
What we are dealing with in this case is the construction of
the limitations recited in the appealed claims. As stated by the
court in In re Hiniker Co., 150 F.3d 1362, 1369, 47 USPQ2d 1523,
1529 (Fed. Cir. 1998) "[t]he name of the game is the claim."
Claims will be given their broadest reasonable interpretation
consistent with the specification, and limitations appearing in
the specification are not to be read into the claims. In re
Etter, 756 F.2d 852, 858, 225 USPQ 1, 5 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
We find that claim 6 does not require that each recess
includes a plurality of buttons which operate the same functions
for the radio function of the acoustical headset, as asserted by
appellant. As drafted, claim 6 only requires that the buttons
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