Appeal No. 2002-0530
Application No. 09/175,407
optical article. In other words, Nishio fails to disclose a
light guide plate of an ionizing radiation-curable resin.
In addition, the examiner admits (Answer, page 4) that
Nishio lacks the claimed maximum thickness of 1 mm or less for
the light guide plate. Therefore, the examiner turns to
Ishikawa, stating (Answer, page 4) that Ishikawa's light guide
plate "has a small thickness at a lower surface of about 1mm to
100mm (line 51-61, column 2)." Appellant does not dispute that
Ishikawa's lower surface is as small as 1 mm. However, appellant
argues (Brief, page 8) that the maximum thickness of Ishikawa's
plate is greater than 1 mm, since a lower surface of about 1 to 2
mm means an upper surface (which is bigger than the lower
surface) must be greater than 1 mm. Accordingly, appellant
contends that Ishikawa fails to meet the thickness limitation of
the claims.
The examiner (Answer, page 4) contends that "[n]owhere in
claim 1 is it disclosed to [sic] which portion of the light guide
plate possess [sic] the maximum thickness." Therefore, the
examiner maintains that the 1 mm thickness of Ishikawa's lower
portion meets the claim limitation. We find the examiner's
position to be without merit. The claim recites "the maximum
thickness of the plate is 1.0 mm or less." The only reasonable
interpretation is that the maximum thickness across the entire
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