[Patentpractice] Article ("a" "an" or "the") required before "apparatus" in a claim?

[George Jakobsche]

An examiner objected to a claim like the following (emphasis added):

A doohickie comprising:
   XYZ apparatus that defines a volume and comprises:
        a port in fluid communication with the volume;
        ... ; and
   a ABC disposed directly below the XYZ apparatus ...

The examiner asserts “XYZ apparatus” requires a leading indefinite article, i.e., “a”. This seems like a relatively minor point, but it seems to me that “apparatus” here refers collectively to its components (as recited after its “comprising”). If so, “apparatus” is uncountable and, therefore, does not take an indefinite article before it, as discussed here<https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/articles.html> and here<https://usingaborrowedlanguage.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/apparatus/>.

Are there any grammarians on this list who can opine on necessity of an indefinite article before “apparatus” in the subject claim?

Situations like this make me wish I still had access to my nineth grade English teacher (Mrs. Pollard), who I sorely underappreciated at the time.

Best regards,
George
George Jakobsche Patent Counsel PLLC
39 Old Farm Road, Concord, MA 01742-5234
George at JakobscheLaw.com<mailto:George at JakobscheLaw.com> | +1-978-245-8100

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