Appeal 2007-1593
Application 10/462,972
reels or cartridges, which are the small object as claimed” (Answer 9).
Alden teaches storage of plural objects or “reels” in the mailer (Alden, col.
2, ll. 57-58). Appellant has not explicitly defined the term “small” in the
Specification. We therefore give the term its ordinary and customary
meaning and, in so doing, we find the magnetic tape reels discussed by
Alden to be “small.”
As for the limitation of a business card being secured to the container,
Alden discloses an address card 20 non-adhesively secured to the cover 12.
An address card is a card having contact information, such as a name and
address, printed thereon and is thus a “business card.” Furthermore, the
printed contents of the claimed “business card” cannot distinguish the
invention from the prior art in terms of patentability. See In re Gulack, 703
F.2d 1381, 1385, 217 USPQ 401, 404 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (when descriptive
material is not functionally related to the substrate, the descriptive material
will not patentably distinguish the invention from the prior art.)
Alden also discloses use of the disclosed container for mail shipments
of the magnetic tapes therein and, as such, meets the step of distributing, in
the sense of giving out or delivering (see Webster’s Third New International
Dictionary, Unabridged 660 (G &C Merriam Co. 1961), the container with
the magnetic reels contained therein to the recipient.
Rejection (3) is also sustained. As evidenced by Schoberg, textured
surfaces on the base and lid of data cartridge cases “for aesthetic appeal if
desired” was well known in the art at the time of Appellant’s invention
(Schoberg, col. 3, ll. 66-68). Appellant argues that the aesthetic texturing
described on the base and lid of Schoberg is on the outer surfaces of base 18
and lid 30 (Appeal Br. 8), but Schoberg does not so limit the description.
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