animal, santarus

custom search

REVERSED
Tech Center 1700 Chemical & Materials Engineering
1731 Ex Parte Hansen 12664070 - (D) GARRIS 103 FLSMIDTH MARCANTONI, PAUL D

AFFIRMED
Tech Center 2600 Communications
2643 Ex Parte Osterloh et al 11115068 - (D) STRAUSS 103 Hanley, Flight & Zimmerman, LLC HTUN, SAN A

REEXAMINATION

AFFIRMED 
Tech Center 2800 Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components
2824 INPHI CORPORATION Requester and Appellant v. NETLIST, INC. Patent Owner and Respondent 95001381 7,532,537 11/335,875 JEFFERY 112(1)/102/103 The Law Office of Jamie Zheng, Ph.D Esq. PEIKARI, BEHZAD original SOFOCLEOUS, ALEXANDER

Here, it is undisputed that the negative limitation, “DDR chip selects that are not CAS, RAS, or bank address signals,” was added by amendment Appeal 2013-009066 during reexamination. It is likewise undisputed that this particular phrase is not expressly stated in the ’537 patent’s original disclosure.

Nevertheless, it is well settled that negative limitations are permissible forms of expression to define the scope of a claimed invention. See generally Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Quigg, 932 F.2d 920, 923 (Fed. 
Cir. 1991). But the mere absence of a positive recitation in the original disclosure is not basis to exclude the limitation. MPEP § 2173.05. Rather, “[n]egative claim limitations are adequately supported when the specification describes a reason to exclude the relevant limitation.” Santarus, Inc. v. Par Pharm., Inc., 694 F.3d 1344, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (emphasis added).

animal DONNER 6: 202; 8: 1501; 10: 418; 14: 574