Appeal 2007-1432
Application 09/141,186
Patent 5,549,673
18. The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the
claims was:
Stevens US 3,547,115 Dec. 15, 1970
Ripple US 4,566,466 Jan. 28, 1986
Koufman, Laryngoplastic Phonosurgery, Laryngeal and Tracheal
Reconstruction, 339-350 (1988).
Isshiki, Kojima, Taira, and Shoji, Recent Modifications in Thyroplasty
Type I, Meeting of the Am. Laryngological Ass’n, 777-779 (1989)
(hereinafter “Isshiki”).
19. Claims 13-16 and 18-19 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, as being indefinite.
20. Claims 13 and 18-19 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Koufman, Isshiki, Stevens, and Ripple.
21. In the Non-Final Action at page 5 the Examiner also indicated:
Claims 14-16 are deemed to recite patentably unobvious subject
matter because the prior art does not show the claimed features
and the instant disclosure appears to recite criticality . . . of the
specific holding portion, inserting instrument and engaging
means configuration over the prior art, i.e., faster, simpler,
efficient locking.
22. On January 9, 1995, and May 18, 1995, Appellant filed a first
Amendment (“the First Amendment”) and a second Amendment (“the
Second Amendment”) responding to the Examiner’s Non-Final Action.
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