Appeal No. 99-0179
Application 08/612,385
Claims 9 and 21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)
as being anticipated by, and in the alternative under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as being obvious over, Gullace.
Reference is made to the appellant’s brief (Paper No. 10)
and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 11) for the respective
positions of the appellant and the examiner with regard to the
merits of these rejections.
As indicated above, independent claim 1 recites an
apparatus for holding a quantity of stuffing material
comprising, inter alia, a pliable shell having a perimeter and
a seam partially formed around the perimeter and having first
and second ends configured to define an opening in the shell.
Claim 1 further defines the seam as being “displaced from said
perimeter,” with the first and second ends of the seam having
“an increased displacement from said perimeter at said
opening.” Claim 8, the other independent claim on appeal,
contains identical limitations. The appellant’s specification
discloses that this seam structure “reduces puckering and
kinking of shell 12 during assembly, packaging, and while
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