On September 15, 2009, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences reversed Examiner’s 103(a) rejection of claims asserted in U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,833. The claims relate to “a watercraft … having a throttle actuator which responds to manual steering control for causing a steerable propulsion unit to generate a propulsive force upon turning the steering control beyond a predetermined angular threshold.” The patent is subject to concurrent litigation which has been stayed pending the outcome of the reexamination. Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc., et al. v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Case No. 6:06-cv-00195-JA-JGG (M.D. Fla. 2006). Please see “Attacking a Patent in Reexamination for Lack of Written Description and Enablement?” by Stephen G. Kunin for a discussion of intervening art and the written description requirement. Reexamination Control 90/008,222
