[Patentpractice] Help with meaning of English words -- please

[Patent Lawyer]

Friends, Colleagues, anyone:  Help me out please.  It is Friday afternoon, and I am stuck.

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The prior art teaches a box, as shown above.  The box has a left side (LS), a top side (T), and a right side (RS).  The top side (T) is directly adjacent to the left side (LS) and directly adjacent to the right side (RS).  The left and right sides (LS, RS) are on opposite sides of the box.  The left and right sides (LS, RS) have no contact with each other.
By “directly adjacent,” I mean next to and touching.  It is just a box!

(Aside: I seem to recall a Federal Circuit claim construction of “adjacent” that was effectively transitive – X was next to Y which was next to Z. X was not next to Z. and the Federal Circuit said that X and Z were adjacent – but that’s an aside.)

Anyway, in my case, a patent examiner considers directly adjacent sides of the box to be "opposite lateral sides" of the box.  According to this patent examiner, the top side (T) is "on an opposite lateral side" of the box to the right side (RS).   How is T opposite RS?

I'll give the examiner the benefit of the doubt, but I just don’t get it.  What am I missing?  Does the word "opposite" have a meaning that could encompass "directly adjacent" in this scenario?

If you can, please explain (even under some BRI) how directly adjacent sides of a box (like T and RS) can be "opposite lateral sides" of the box.

Thank you.



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