Appeal No. 2006-2177 Page 8
Application No. 10/127,152
a. Claim Construction
"[T]he PTO gives claims their 'broadest reasonable interpretation.'" In re Bigio,
381 F.3d 1320, 1324, 72 USPQ2d 1209, 1211 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (quoting In re Hyatt, 211
F.3d 1367, 1372, 54 USPQ2d 1664, 1668 (Fed. Cir. 2000)). "Moreover, limitations are
not to be read into the claims from the specification." In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181,
1184, 26 USPQ2d 1057, 1059 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (citing In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321, 13
USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989)). Furthermore, "[t]he transitional term 'comprising'
. . . is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or
method steps." Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 195 F.3d 1322, 1327, 52
USPQ2d 1590, 1595 (Fed.Cir. 1999) (citing M.P.E.P. § 2111.03 (6th ed.1997)). "A
drafter uses the term 'comprising' to mean 'I claim at least what follows and potentially
more.'" Vehicular Techs. Corp. v. Titan Wheel Int'l, Inc., 212 F.3d 1377, 1383, 54
USPQ2d 1841, 1845 (Fed.Cir. 2000).
Here, claim 23 further recites in pertinent part the following limitations:
"a scrolling navigational ribbon displaying a first portion of a first plurality of descriptive
text titles providing a means for accessing a first set of user-selectable information. . . ."
Giving the representative claim the broadest, reasonable construction, the limitations
require that the scrolling area includes text. Because the claim uses the term
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013