Appeal No. 1999-2065
Application 08/651,502
response to movement of the jaw members from the closed to the
open position” (brief,
page 13). Moreover, we do not agree with the examiner’s
position regarding the Takaro patent. Again, we note that a
functional limitation must be evaluated and considered, just
like any other limitation of the claim, for what it fairly
conveys to a person of ordinary skill in the pertinent art in
the context in which it is used and that a functional
limitation is often used in association with an element,
ingredient, or step of a process to define a particular
capability or purpose that is served by the recited element,
ingredient or step. While the trigger (1), as identified by
the examiner (answer, page 4), of Takaro may be “capable of
being moved from operative connection to inoperative
association with the staple pusher” as asserted by the
examiner
at page 5 of the answer, the claims specifically require “said
trigger being moved from operative connection to inoperative
association with the staple pusher in response to movement of
14
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