January 8, 2008

The Enablement Requirement

the claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
存在没有以...的方式描述的subject matter

enalbement requirement 和 utility requirement的区别:

Lack of enablement and absence of utility are closely related grounds of unpatentability. See Raytheon Co. v. Roper Corp. , 724 F.2d 951, 956, 220 USPQ 592, 596 (Fed. Cir. 1983). The enablement requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 1 requires that the specification adequately discloses to one skilled in the relevant art how to make, or in the case of a process, how to carry out, the claimed invention without undue experimentation. See Genentech, Inc. v. Novo Nordisk, A/S , 108 F.3d 1361, 1365, 42 USPQ2d 1001, 1004 (Fed. Cir. 1997). The utility requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 101 mandates that any patentable invention be useful and, accordingly, the subject matter of the claim must be operable. See Brooktree Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. , 977 F.2d 1555, 1571, 24 USPQ2d 1401, 1412 (Fed. Cir. 1992). If a patent claim fails to meet the utility requirement because it is not useful or operative, then it also fails to meet the how-to-use aspect of the enablement requirement.

112enablement requirement要求說明書適當的揭示,以在不需要undue experimentation的情況下,使one skilled in the relevant art能夠知道how to make, or in the case of a process, how to carry out, the claimed invention。相對於此,
101utility requirement則是要求任何可專利的發明必須useful,因此其claim的主題必須是operable。當不符合utility requirement時,同時也不能滿足the how-to-use aspect of the enablement requirement

In Raytheon , we held certain process claims invalid, stating
[b]ecause it is for the invention as claimed that enablement must clearly exist, and because the impossible cannot be enabled, a claim containing a limitation impossible to meet may be held invalid under § 112. Moreover, when a claim requires a means for accomplishing an unattainable result, the claimed invention must be considered inoperative as claimed and the claim must be held invalid under either § 101 or § 112 of 35 U.S.C.

上段模模糊糊的,這段更清楚了,包含一個limitation impossible to meet是不符合112,而缺少一個a means for accomplishing an unattainable result是不符合101

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