Appeal No. 2005-0934 Page 2
Application No. 10/414,060
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention relates generally to an umbrella improvement which
facilitates on a rainy day an umbrella-assisted departure from a vehicle. Claim 1 reads
as follows:
For an umbrella in the use of which said umbrella in an open condition is
used during departure of an individual with packages through an open door of an
automobile on a rainy day, the improvement comprising attaching a bottom end
of a handle of said open umbrella to a top edge of said open door bounding a
window of said door to provide an operative attached position of said umbrella to
said top edge bounding said door window providing standing room for said
departing individual beneath said umbrella, operative positions of both hands of
said departing individual engaged about said packages during departure through
said open door, and one hand of said individual removed from said engaged
operative position about said packages and assuming an operative position in
contact with and disengaging said handle bottom end from said top edge of said
door, whereby said disengaged umbrella has use value in maintaining said
individual and packages dry during said departure from said automobile.
The rejections under appeal as set forth in the final rejection are as follows:
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as being
indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter
which applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 is indefinite because:
1) The claim starts with the language "For an umbrella'' yet nothing is
claimed that is for an umbrella.
2) lt is unclear if the claim is meant to be a structural claim or a method
claim. The body of the claim appears to be a method claim, but this is not set
forth in the preamble. The claim is structured more like a paragraph than a claim.
3) It is not clear if the applicant intends on claiming the car door as part of
the present invention since the applicant has included more structure for the car
door.
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