Appeal No. 2006-2169 Page 9
Application No. 09/899,919
a. Claim Construction
Claim 1 further recites in pertinent part the following limitations: "a plate-like
portion having a positioning slit between blade portions, the positioning slit having a
width slightly smaller than a diameter of said optical fiber cord, each of the blade
portions being formed by a side edge of said positioning slit joined at a right angle to a
distal end edge of said plate-like portion. . . ." Giving the representative claim the
broadest, reasonable construction, the limitations require a pair of legs defining an
opening and that the aforementioned blade parts be formed by a side edge of the
opening joined at a right angle to an edge of the legs.
b. Obviousness Determination
"All that is required to show obviousness is that the claimed invention would have
been made obvious by applying knowledge clearly present in the prior art." In re Rau,
838 F.2d 1223 (tbl.), 1988 WL 5131 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (citing In re Shekler, 438 F.2d 999,
1001, 168 USPQ 716, 717 (CCPA 1971); In re Winslow, 365 F.2d 1017, 1020, 151
USPQ 48, 50-51 (CCPA 1966)) (unpublished).
Here, van Woesik "relates to a fibre [sic] optic connector for optically connecting
first and second optical fibres [sic]. . . ." (Col. 1, ll. 8-9.) More specifically, the "fibre
optics connector 2 (FIGS. 15 and 16) comprises a connector housing 4, an intermediate
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