Appeal No. 2005-2178
Application 09/969,882
Appellant discloses in the written description in the specification that “the phrase ‘means
for confining the roots of plants’ refers to the inverted cup-shaped barrier structures as well as
their equivalents which include, among other things, cylinders and rectangular boxes with or
without a planar upper face” (specification, page 7, [0022]). Thus, the subject “means” language
includes at least “cup-shaped barrier structures” such as ‘inverted cup-shaped barrier structure
C” of specification FIG. 1 (specification, page 7, [0022]). The “cover sheet” for the reservoir
container can be any material which at least covers the container and permits the claimed steps
of “cutting holes at locations above . . . the means for confining roots” and “planting . . . seeds or
seedlings through said respective holes.”
Finally, claims 14 and 17 specify the remaining steps of adding water during the growing
seasons or sessions for each batch of seeds or seedlings. We point out here that the open-ended
term “comprising” used as a transitional term as well as in the body of the claim, opens the
claims to encompass methods which include materials and elements in addition to those
specified in the claims, such as the inclusion of nutrients, fungicides and other materials in the
water added to the reservoir during the course of the growing season. See generally, Exxon
Chem. Pats., Inc. v. Lubrizol Corp., 64 F.3d 1553, 1555, 35 USPQ2d 1801, 1802 (Fed. Cir.
1995) (“The claimed composition is defined as comprising - meaning containing at least - five
specific ingredients.”); In re Baxter, 656 F.2d 679, 686-87, 210 USPQ 795, 802-03 (CCPA
1981) (“As long as one of the monomers in the reaction is propylene, any other monomer may be
present, because the term ‘comprises’ permits the inclusion of other steps, elements, or
materials.”).
We find that Geraldson would have taught one of ordinary skill in this art a reservoir
container that modifies or controls evaporation, and which has a growing medium container 3
with permeable bottom wall 9, that can have numerous perforations, positioned over the
reservoir containing growing medium 7, and a top wall or cover 5 having openings 6 through
which plants grow positioned at various places depending on the type and size of plants; that a
band of fertilizer mixture 17 is placed into the top of growing medium 7 in an amount depending
on the type and number of plants, such that “[t]he positioning of plant openings 6, growing
medium column 16, and fertilizer mixture 17 at the side of the plant openings causes salt
deposits to occur remote the root of plant 10;” and that the top wall or cover 5 can be made
- 6 -
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