Appeal No. 2002-0728
Application No. 09/404,570
CONCLUSION
In view of the foregoing, we affirm the examiner’s decision
rejecting claims 1 through 6, 8, 9 and 11 through 21 under 35
U.S.C. § 103, but reverse the examiner’s decision rejecting claims
7, 10, 23 and 24 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Pursuant to 37 CFR
§ 1.196(b)(2001), we enter a new ground of rejection against claim
24 and denominate our affirmance of the rejections of claims 1
through 6, 8, 9 and 11 through 21 as involving new grounds of
rejection. As is apparent from this decision, our reasons for
affirming the rejections of claims 1-6, 8, 9 and 11 through 21 are
materially different from those provided by the examiner.
This decision contains a new ground of rejection pursuant to
37 CFR § 1.196(b). 37 CFR § 1.196(b) provides that, “A new ground
of rejection shall not be considered final for purposes of judicial
review.”
37 CFR § 1.196(b) also provides that the appellant(s), WITHIN
TWO MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise one of the
following two options with respect to the new ground of rejection
to avoid termination of proceedings (§ 1.197(c)) as to the rejected
claims:
(1) Submit an appropriate amendment of the claims so
rejected or a showing of facts relating to the claims so
rejected, or both, and have the matter reconsidered by
12
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007