Ex parte MOORE et al. - Page 5




                 Appeal No. 98-2117                                                                                       Page 5                        
                 Application No. 08/370,170                                                                                                             


                 all that it teaches a person of ordinary skill in the art.                                                                             
                 See, e.g., In re Meng, 492 F.2d 843, 847, 181 USPQ 94, 97 (CCPA                                                                        
                 1974).  Here, however, we do not believe that Fig. 4 of Redman                                                                         
                 either teaches or fairly suggests flat, planar surfaces.                                                                               
                 Patent drawings are not working drawings and the examiner's                                                                            
                 position is predicated on a greatly enlarged section of a small                                                                        
                 drawing that was obviously never intended to show the precise                                                                          
                 detail of the surfaces on the end                                                                                                      
                 portion the Redman's member 42 that the examiner has designated                                                                        
                 as 9B.   See In re Wilson, 312 F.2d 449, 454, 136 USPQ 188, 1924                                                                                                                           
                 (CCPA 1963).  Moreover, viewing the examiner's enlargement of                                                                          
                 Redman's Fig. 4, we observe that, while the surface 9A appears                                                                         
                 to be depicted as flat and planar with reasonable clarity,                                                                             
                 surface 9B does not.  In fact, the surface 9B appears to be                                                                            
                 more rounded than flat and planar.                                                                                                     




                          4The view that Redman never intended to show precise                                                                          
                 detail of the surfaces on the end portion the member 42 is                                                                             
                 apparent from the examiner's exhibit by a comparison of the                                                                            
                 end portion 9B on the left side with the "mirror image" end                                                                            
                 portion on the right side.  That is, end portion on the right                                                                          
                 side appears to be significantly more flat and planar than the                                                                         
                 end portion 9B (which appears to be significantly rounded).                                                                            







Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007