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

[Patent Lawyer]

Thanks Richard and Jeffrey.

To be clear, I am not claiming the box.   My claims are quite different.
The examiner is applying the “box” as prior art.
And I used the box to explain the examiner’s construction of the prior art.
I was trying to figure out how adjacent sides (e.g., a top and a side of a box), could be considered opposite lateral sides of that box.



From: Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf of Patentpractice Patentpractice <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Reply-To: Patentpractice Patentpractice <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Date: Friday, April 26, 2024 at 5:01 PM
To: Patentpractice Patentpractice <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Richard Straussman <rstraussman at weitzmanip.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentpractice] Help with meaning of English words -- please

Can't you simply dispense with the issue entirely by replacing "adjacent" with the word "abuts" (i.e., LS abuts T on a first side of T and RS abuts T on a second side of T opposite the first side)?
Richard Straussman
Senior Counsel
Registered Patent Attorney
Member NY, NJ & CT Bars
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Weitzman Law Offices, LLC
Intellectual Property Law
425 Eagle Rock Avenue, Suite 401 (PLEASE NOTE THE SUITE CHANGE)
Roseland, NJ 07068
direct line 973.403.9943
main 973.403.9940
fax 973.403.9944
e-mail rstraussman at weitzmanip.com<mailto:rstraussman at weitzmanip.com>

http://www.weitzmanip.com<http://www.weitzmanip.com/>



On 4/26/2024 4:31 PM, Patent Lawyer via Patentpractice wrote:
Friends, Colleagues, anyone:  Help me out please.  It is Friday afternoon, and I am stuck.

[cid:image001.png at 01DA97FC.E16D2430]

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.







-- Patentpractice mailing list Patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com http://oppedahl-lists.com/mailman/listinfo/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20240426/e5d3710c/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 25455 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20240426/e5d3710c/attachment.png>