Appeal No. 2000-0713
Application 08/864,726
MEDICINAL TABLETS)." Examiner's Answer, Paper No. 22, page 4.
Appellants argue that ?the mere disclosure of a tablet,
itself, does not imply, nor does it impute to one of ordinary
skill in the art, opposing curved surfaces or a perimeter
having a concave shape." Appeal Brief, page 8.
The common dictionary meanings of the word ?tablet" are:
1a. a flat surface, slab or plaque suited for or
bearing an inscription;
b. a thin slab used for writing;
2a. a compressed or molded block of a solid
material;
b. a small mass of medicated material usually
in the shape of a disk or flat square.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 2325 (1971).1
Appellants assert that the ?proper interpretation [of a
tablet] would include a planar surface (e.g., flat surface)
which teaches away from the claimed invention." Appeal Brief,
page 8.
The examiner appears to have adopted the second sense of the
word ?tablet" and notes that while some medicinal tablets are
coin-shaped others ?have a non-planar/-contained/pillow shape
(ie like an M&M). . . ." Examiner's Answer, page 5. Even if
the examiner were correct that one of ordinary skill in the
art in reading Prud'Homme would consider a tablet as including
1The examiner does not identify, nor do we find any
disclosure in Prud'Homme which would lead us to conclude that
the term ?tablet" as used in the context of an adhesive
preform has any meaning other than these common dictionary
meanings.
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