Appeal No. 2005-1278 Page 9
Application No. 10/145,226
The second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 requires claims to set out and
circumscribe a particular area with a reasonable degree of precision and particularity.
In re Johnson, 558 F.2d 1008, 1015, 194 USPQ 187, 193 (CCPA 1977). In making this
determination, the definiteness of the language employed in the claims must be
analyzed, not in a vacuum, but always in light of the teachings of the prior art and of the
particular application disclosure as it would be interpreted by one possessing the
ordinary level of skill in the pertinent art. Id.
The examiner's focus during examination of claims for compliance with the
requirement for definiteness of 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, is whether the
claims meet the threshold requirements of clarity and precision, not whether more
suitable language or modes of expression are available. Some latitude in the manner of
expression and the aptness of terms is permitted even though the claim language is not
as precise as the examiner might desire. If the scope of the invention sought to be
patented cannot be determined from the language of the claims with a reasonable
degree of certainty, a rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph,
is appropriate.
Thus, the failure to provide explicit antecedent basis for terms does not always
render a claim indefinite. As stated above, if the scope of a claim would be reasonably
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