Court Opinion

ID: 9497197
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:45:22.939435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:02.970278
License: Public Domain

DYK, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the court’s decision not to hear the case en banc.
In my view the question of whether 35 U.S.C. § 112 contains a written description requirement (separate from the enablement requirement) does not merit en banc review. For the reasons set forth in the panel opinion and in Judge Lourie’s opinion concurring in the denial of en banc review, I think it is clear that the statute contains such a requirement — applicable both in the context of priority and validity disputes. In this particular case the failure to satisfy that requirement was not even a close case. The appellant simply did not invent, much less describe, what was claimed.
My vote to deny en banc review, however, should not be taken as an endorsement of our existing written description jurisprudence. In my view we have yet to articulate satisfactory standards that can be applied to all technologies. Future panel opinions may provide the necessary clarity. If not, there may be a time when en banc consideration of the proper written description standards will be appropriate. But this is neither the right time, nor the right case, in which to consider those difficult questions.