Appeal 2006-2721
Application 09/579,938
Appellant discloses “any known spigot or dispensing assembly 100 may be
used to dispense paint from the paint storage container 48, including a lever
type spigot assembly” (Specification 10:6-10). The Examiner properly
considered claim 3 and the remaining appealed claims in this manner
(Answer, e.g., pages 5, 6, and 8).
The term “paint” is used in the claims to characterize the capability of
the storage container, storage compartments of the container, the dispensing
mechanism, and stirring assembly to store, dispense, and stir the same.
Thus, we give the term “paint” the broadest reasonable interpretation in
ordinary usage in context as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill
in the art, in light of the written description in the Specification unless
another meaning is intended by Appellant as established therein, and without
reading into the claim any disclosed limitation or particular embodiment.
See, e.g., In re Am. Acad. of Sci. Tech. Ctr., 367 F.3d 1359, 1364, 70
USPQ2d 1827, 1830 (Fed. Cir. 2004); In re Hyatt, 211 F.3d 1367, 1372, 54
USPQ2d 1664, 1666-67 (Fed. Cir. 2000); Morris, 127 F.3d at 1054-55, 44
USPQ2d at 1027; In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321-22, 13 USPQ2d
1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989).
Appellant discloses that “when painting the interior or exterior of a
house, a person . . . is typically left with at least one partially filled can of
left over paint” (Specification 1:10-14). No specific definition or other
description of such “paint” is disclosed. The term “paint” has the
customary, dictionary meaning of “[a] liquid mixture, usually of a solid
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