Application of Nathan

1 Citing case

  1. Kennecott Corp. v. Kyocera Intern., Inc.

    835 F.2d 1419 (Fed. Cir. 1987)   Cited 30 times   1 Legal Analyses
    In Kennecott, where the term "equiaxed microstructure" was expressly used to describe an invention for the first time in a CIP, the CIP was entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the parent patent because the description was inherent in the structure produced in the original parent patent.

    The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals did not adopt the position that is now urged by Kyocera. In In re Nathan, 328 F.2d 1005, 1008-09, 140 USPQ 601, 604 (CCPA 1964), the court held that the later-added limitation to the claims of the compound's alpha orientation was "an inherent characteristic" of the claimed subject matter, and reversed a new matter rejection. The Nathan court explained that "a subsequent clarification of or a change in an original disclosure does not necessarily make that original disclosure fatally defective." Id. at 1008, 140 USPQ at 603.