Appeal No. 2006-1845
Application No. 10/350,875
The examiner argues that “an area has more than one
‘length’” (answer, page 6). That argument is incorrect. The
length is “the longer or longest dimension of an object”.2
Hence, the width of the ACSI interior space, which is shorter
than the direction orthogonal to the width, cannot reasonably be
considered a length.
Accordingly, we reverse the rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 102(a) over ASCI.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103
The only element of the appellant’s claims that the
appellant argues would not have been fairly suggested to one of
ordinary skill in the art by Letner and ACSI is a single drain
that runs substantially the length of an interior space.
Letner discloses a decontamination chamber having a
subbase (34) with ribs (74) that form channels (76) that open
into a sump (72) (col. 5, line 34 – col. 6, line 5). The ribs
and channels run substantially the length of the interior space
of the decontamination chamber (figure 2).
2 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 658 (G. & C. Merriam 1973).
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