In re Duggan

This case presents the not unusual situation of an application in the United States Patent Office for a patent for a process in which certain claims, specific to certain concentrations of reagents and temperatures, were allowed, and certain claims, couched broadly in terms of result or function, were denied. It is with the question of whether or not these latter claims were properly denied by the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office that we are here concerned.

Appellants’ process is in the art of finishing cellulosic textile fabrics such as cotton cloth used for making shirts. The process is…