by Steve Driskill | Nov 13, 2015 | [sub] written description, Adequate Disclosure
Negative claim limitations may be supported by the specification’s description of alternative features—even without articulating advantages or disadvantages of each feature—which can constitute a “reason to exclude” under the standard for supporting negative...
by Steve Driskill | Nov 12, 2015 | PTO Procedure
A certificate of correction may be used to correct the chemical structure of a claimed compound based on later discoveries when the specification as a whole makes clear that the patentee nevertheless possessed the compound at the time of filing. Here, for example, the...
by Steve Driskill | Nov 12, 2015 | [sub] common terms, Claim Interpretation
The location term “end” is generally limited to the region at or near where a corresponding structure ceases to exist. Here, for example, while the claim term “proximate end” was found to encompass some offset from the absolute end of a corresponding shipping...
by Steve Driskill | Nov 10, 2015 | [sub] motivation, Obviousness
It is generally obvious to treat a limited subset of patients with an otherwise known procedure when there are no unexpected results directly attributable to the patient subset itself. Here, for example, limiting the patient pool for a drug treating irritable bowel...
by Steve Driskill | Nov 10, 2015 | [sub] importing limitations, Claim Interpretation
Negative claim limitations will be interpreted just as broadly as positive claim limitations, which may significantly narrow the claim scope. Here, for example, method steps required to be performed “without the use of a vision guidance system” were found to exclude a...
