Appeal No. 2005-0777
Application No. 10/081,881
specification does not define or even exemplify any materials
within the scope of the term “soft vinyl” (specification, page 4,
l. 23; page 5, l. 28; and page 6, l. 35). The scope of the word
“vinyl” may be defined as “[a]ny of various tough, flexible, and
shiny plastics often used for coverings and clothing.”2 However,
the word “soft” is a “word of degree” which is imprecise unless a
definition or guideline has been set forth in the specification,
or the term is otherwise well known in the art. See Seattle Box
Co. v. Industrial Crating & Packing, Inc., 731 F.2d 818, 826, 221
USPQ 568, 574 (Fed. Cir. 1984). There is no evidence on this
record that the word “soft” has any art-recognized meaning and,
as previously discussed, this word has not been defined or
exemplified in the specification. Accordingly, we determine that
one of ordinary skill in this art would not have been apprised of
the scope of claims 4 and 7, when read in light of the
specification. Therefore we determine that claims 4 and 7 are
indefinite and fail to meet the requirement of the second
paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112.
2Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, p. 1289,
The Riverside Publishing Co., 1984 (a copy is attached to this
decision).
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