Ex parte RIDDER et al. - Page 6




          Appeal No. 2000-1455                                                        
          Application 08/911,913                                                      


          1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997).                                                
               The § 102(b) rejection therefore will not be sustained.                
          § 103(a) Rejection                                                          
               The basis of this rejection as stated by the examiner in               
          the examiner’s answer is not particularly clear.                            
          Nevertheless, since Hausch does not teach or suggest the use                
          of a TPE, as recited in claim 1, and the examiner has cited no              
          other evidence from which it might be concluded that it would               
          have been obvious to make any of the mats disclosed by Hausch               
          out of a TPE, the rejection will not be sustained.                          
          Rejection Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.196(b)                                       
               Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as                        
          unpatentable over Hausch in view of the Handbook.  As                       
          discussed above, Hausch discloses a prior art elastic mat                   
          having a layer of nonwoven fabric coated with a “carrier” of                
          foamed plastic with suction cups attached to its bottom side.               
          Since this disclosed mat is elastic, and TPEs are well known                
          elastic polymers which may be foamed, as disclosed on pages                 
          7.1, 7.2, 7.40 (last line) and 7.41 of the Handbook, it would               
          have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to                    


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