Appeal No. 2005-0661
Application No. 09/894,480
dictionary definitions. CCS Fitness Inc. v. Brunswick Corp., 288
F.3d 1359, 1366, 62 USPQ2d 1658, 1662 (Fed. Cir. 2002).
On the record before us, the unchallenged dictionary
definition advanced by the appellants ostensibly represents the
ordinary and accustomed meaning of “transverse” as it would be
understood within the context of the appellants’ invention. This
dictionary definition also conforms with, and accurately
describes, the crossing interrelationship of the leaves disclosed
in the appellants’ specification. In contrast, the examiner has
failed to advance any authority for the rather dubious
proposition that elements not disposed in parallel necessarily
are transversely disposed at an angle to one another. As clearly
shown in Heath’s Figures 2 and 3, flexible plate 7 and spring 21
do not intersect or lie across one another from any reasonable
perspective. Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art would
not view these elements as leaves which are transversely disposed
at an angle to one another. Hence, the examiner’s determination
that Heath is anticipatory with respect to the subject matter
recited in claims 1, 8 and 15 is unsound.
Accordingly, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(e) rejection of independent claims 1, 8 and 15, and
9
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007