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

[Jeffrey Semprebon]

Online definitions all come up with "on the other side", "facing" and
similar meanings that preclude the adjacent side from being "opposite" the
top side. Perhaps worth a call to the examiner to get clarification on
what they mean. Otherwise, find some dictionary definitions to include in a
reply arguing that the examiner's definition of "opposite" here is contrary
to conventional usage. "THE WORDS OF A CLAIM MUST BE GIVEN THEIR “PLAIN
MEANING” UNLESS SUCH MEANING IS INCONSISTENT WITH THE SPECIFICATION" (MPEP
2111(I)).


-Jeff

Jeffrey E. Semprebon
Semprebon Patent Services
www.semprebonps.com
72 Myrtle Street
Claremont, New Hampshire 03743

On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 4:33 PM Patent Lawyer via Patentpractice <
patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:

> 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!
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> (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?
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> 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?
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> 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.
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> Thank you.
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