Appeal No. 2003-1171
Application 09/809,648
II. The 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) rejection of claims 1, 2 and 4 as
being anticipated by Dunlap
Dunlap discloses a trocar 10 comprising a handle 134, a
cannula tube 132 attached to the handle and defining a bore
therewith and an obturator 12 for sliding engagement in the bore.
The obturator includes a hollow shaft 18, a piercing tip 16 on
the distal end of the shaft and shield members 52, 54 and 56
slidably disposed within the shaft. Dunlap describes and
illustrates the structural details of the piercing tip 16 and
shield members 52, 54 and 56 at column 8, line 22, through column
11, line 42, and in Figures 10 through 10D.
As indicated above, claim 1 recites a trocar comprising,
inter alia, an obturator tip having wing elements spaced
approximately 180 degrees from one another. In determining that
this limitation is met by Dunlap, the examiner refers to the
blunted land 51 (see Figures 10B, 10C and 10D) which is one of
three blunted lands 51, 53 and 55 respectively located on three
interior shaft walls 40, 42 and 44 spaced at 120 degree
intervals, and to Dunlap’s disclosure at column 8, lines 49
through 53, that other quantities of interior walls, i.e., one,
two, four, etc., could be employed. Presumably, the examiner
considers that one or more of these alternative constructions
would define two blunted lands or wing elements spaced 180
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