Appeal No. 96-3935
Application 08/209,673
configuration by steps such as those recited in appellants’ claim 40, whereby the plug is locked in the
second configuration and upon exposure to a solvent of the polymer will revert back to the prior first
configuration. Thus, since this critical physical/structural characteristic of the claimed subject matter is
not taught or suggested by the references relied upon by the examiner or inherent therein, we are
compelled to reverse the examiner’s rejection of claims 8 through 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Independent claim 49 has also been rejected by the examiner under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Popular Science Dec. 1989 or July 1989 in view of Wozniak. On page 4 of their
brief, appellants have argued that
claim 49 is allowable in accordance with the decision and rationale of the Board of
Patent Appeals and Interferences opinion (Appeal No. 94-0253; see pages 4-6)
mailed January 13, 1994. (Brief, page 4)
Since claim 49 was not part of the claims on appeal in the prior decision referred to by
appellants, we are at a complete loss to understand this argument. In that regard, we also observe
that pages 4-6 of the decision in Appeal No. 94-0235 addressed a rejection made by the examiner
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