Appeal No. 2001-0888 Page 3
Application No. 08/790,559
Darrieux et al. (Darrieux) 5,571,357 Nov. 5, 1996
Lin et al. (Lin) 5,645,668 Jul. 8, 1997
Claims 20-23, 25-27, 38-44, and 58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over VonVolkli in view of Lin, and claim 24 is correspondingly rejected
over these references and further in view of Azzani.
In addition, claims 20, 28-37, 57, and 59 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Darrieux in view of VonVolkli.
As indicated on page 14 of the Brief, certain of the appealed claims have been
grouped and argued separately on this appeal. Accordingly, in assessing the merits of
the above noted rejections, we have individually considered these separately grouped
and argued claims. See 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7)(1999).
We refer to the Brief and Reply Brief and to the Answer for a thorough
discussion of the opposing viewpoints expressed by the appellant and by the examiner
concerning these rejections.
Opinion
For the reasons set forth in the Answer and below, we will sustain the examiner's
§ 103 rejections as applied against claims 33-36, 38, 39, 41-44, and 59. However, we
will not sustain the examiner's § 103 rejections as applied against claims 20-32, 37, 40,
57, and 58.
Each of these last mentioned claims is directed to a method which requires that
a caul sheet section be "coupled" to the outer surface of a bladder. For example,
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