Appeal No. 2000-1759
Application No. 08/748,637
through 42 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Thus, the decision of the
examiner is reversed.
REMAND TO THE EXAMINER
In addition to the foregoing, we REMAND this application to
the examiner for a full consideration of the teachings in the
declaration by Dr. Stanley N. Carson, cited by appellant in the
Information Disclosure Statement filed September 22, 2000 (Paper
No. 33). More particularly, we direct the examiner's attention
to the disclosure therein at paragraphs 5 through 10, which would
appear to teach or suggest a method of stent placement and stent
expansion utilizing a catheter with a radially expandable portion
exactly like that set forth in appellant's claims 39 through 42
on appeal. This declaration states (paragraph 6) that the
concept of a permanently expandable metal stent that could be
inserted over an angioplasty balloon and delivered percutaneously
to the point of vessel blockage and then inflated to open up the
vessel and thereafter deflated and withdrawn leaving the stent in
place in the vessel to keep it open was conceived of by Dr.
Carson during the latter part of 1979 and pursued into the early
1980's, a time frame before the earliest date established by
appellant for his invention (i.e., as indicated in appellant's
99
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