Interference No. 103,836
It is considered that the drawing clearly illustrates the invention of the count. With
respect to the count, the drawing shows a cross-section of a rim with rim flanges (see especially
the left-most figure, which is a side view of the apparatus), a spider within the rim formed by the
spokes as illustrated in the large central figure comprising a front view of the apparatus, and an
ornamental appliqué identified as an overlay overlapping the rim. The appliqué has an annular
outer portion adjacent one of the rim flanges in that the outer portions of the spokes of the
appliqué which cover the spokes of the wheel are interconnected by an annular outer ring as
shown by the front view of the apparatus; the appliqué has an annular inner connecting portion
and a plurality of vent openings between the spokes as shown in the front view. A curable
adhesive is disposed between said appliqué and said rim and said spider, as shown in the front
and SEC A-A views, in that the adhesive is applied on the spider and extends outward toward the
rim flanges to the annular outer portion of the rim, and locking means, identified in the central
figure at “7.0 DIA. COUNTER BORE FOR ATTACHING OVERLAY (5 PLACES),” holds the
appliqué in place.4
Other than the charge that Chase has not identified all the elements of the count in
CX-14, the only argument made by Beam against the content of the drawing is that there is no
indication on the drawing of the demarcation between the spider and the rim. This argument is
not persuasive. Even if one were to hold that the rim of the count is limited to the outer annular
portion of the wheel structure, the demarcation between the spider and the rim in CX-14 would
be essentially where the spokes forming the spider are joined to the outer annular portion of the
wheel structure. The side view of CX-14 is essentially the same as Figure 3 of CX-1, which we
have held, above, discloses an appliqué 20 overlapping a rim 12.
4 The adhesive is curable in that as it ages it hardens for its use to bond the applique to the rim.
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