Appeal 2006-1875
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,272
1 unable to establish any date of publication prior to June 30, 1997, and
2 cannot confirm the actual date the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure first
3 became accessible to the public.
4
5 8. Patent Owner submitted declarations under 37 C.F.R. § 1.132 by the
6 co-inventors Kent Hemme and Allan Shea, declaring that they are employees
7 of Patent Owner SPX Valves and Controls, which acquired Copes-Vulcan,
8 and the subject matter of the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure was the result of
9 their joint invention and, therefore, the brochure does not indicate invention
10 by "another" under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) (May 12 amendment, page 7).
11 9. The Examiner entered a Final Rejection on September 30, 2003, of
12 claims 2-10 and 12-20, which did not rely on the Copes-Vulcan Brochure,
13 and noted that claims 21-23 were objected to but would be allowable if
14 rewritten in independent form.
15 10. Patent Owner filed an amendment on November 26, 2003, canceling
16 claims 5, 16, and 20, and rewriting claims 21-23 as independent claims.
17 11. Patent Owner filed an Information Disclosure Statement on
18 December 30, 2003, requesting the Examiner to consider an additional
19 declaration by Mr. Miller dated December 10, 2003, (2003 Miller
20 declaration), regarding the Copes-Vulcan Brochure, but also stating:
21 Patentee conducted a diligent investigation as to the first date of
22 publication of the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure referenced in the
23 attached declaration. Patentee was and is unable to establish any date
24 of publication prior to June 30, 1997, and cannot confirm the actual
25 date the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure first became accessible to the
26 public.
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