Appeal No. 2000-0511
Application No. 08/758,343
Pursuant to our authority under 37 CFR § 1.196(b), we enter the following new
grounds of rejection.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Polotti.
With regard to claim 1, Polotti discloses a universal grip device for holding bottles and
the like containers, comprising a handle (handgrip 2), a clamping member (band element 20) on
the handle designed to surround and grip a bottle or like container and being adjustable to the
size of the container (see column 1, lines 28-30; column 2, lines 58-61; column 3, lines 26-30)
and an anchoring member (split ring 4) on the handle designed to be snap fitted onto the neck
portion of the container (thereby abutting and stabilizing the container). As illustrated in Figure
5, the split ring 4 is movable from a first (retracted) position remote from the neck of the
container to a second (extended) position abutting the neck of the container. While this
movement of the split ring is with (and thus not independent of) the handle, it does occur
independently of and relative to the band element 20 about an axial pin or pivot 30, as required
by claim 1. Further, the band element 20 defines a loop of variable circumference and
comprises, at one end thereof, a closure zone 21 provided with projecting teeth and, at the
opposite end thereof, a dog 22 engageable with the projecting teeth for fixing the circumference
of the loop at any of a plurality of values (column 2, lines 53-61), as recited in claim 2.
Claim 3 recites "means for moving said anchoring member between said retracted
position and said extended position." In order to meet a "means-plus-function" limitation, the
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