Appeal No. 2006-0730 Page 3
Application No. 10/164,863
DISCUSSION
Written Description:
According to the examiner (Answer, page 2), appellants have not
identified a portion of their specification wherein the phrase “treat one or more of
the symptoms of the reproductive disorder,” as it appears in claim 1, can be
found. With reference to the Merriam-Webster dictionary2 the examiner finds
(Answer, bridging sentence, pages 2-3, emphasis removed), “a symptom is ‘1a:
subjective evidence of disease or physical disturbance.’” From this the examiner
concludes (Answer, page 3, emphasis removed), “[a]pplicants’ specification is
focused on the objective signs of a disease (i.e. infertile), not the subjective
sensations of an individual.” We disagree.
Initially, we note that the examiner has relied on a very limited reading of
the definition as it appears in the online version of the Merriam-Webster
dictionary. For clarity, we reproduce the entire Merriam-Webster dictionary
definition for symptom below.
Symptom:
1 a : subjective evidence of disease or physical disturbance;
broadly : something that indicates the presence of bodily disorder
b : an evident reaction by a plant to a pathogen
2 a : something that indicates the existence of something else
<symptoms of an inner turmoil> b : a slight indication : TRACE
2 According to the examiner (Answer, page 2), the online version of the Merriam-Webster
dictionary was relied upon and the content was retrieved February 16, 2004, “from the internet:
URL:http:www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=symptom&x=13&y=14.”
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