Appeal 2007-3874
Application 10/288,027
The issues in this appeal are whether the Examiner has carried the
burden of establishing a prima facie case in each of the grounds of rejection
advanced on appeal.
The plain language of claim 7 specifies a net-shaped molded heat
sink, the heat sink comprising at least a thermally conductive main body
molded of a thermoplastic polymer composition having a base polymer
matrix with uniformly distributed thermally conductive material; having
integrally connected to and emanating from its top surface a plurality of
thermally conductive fins molded of the same kind of thermoplastic
composition; having a bottom interface surface being an interface layer for
thermal communication with the contact surface of a heat generating object;
and completely surrounding the outer surface of a core layer plate of carbon-
carbon matrix material. The transitional term “comprising” opens claim 7 to
include net-shaped molded heat sinks which contain additional structural
elements and materials. See, e.g., Exxon Chem. Pats., Inc. v. Lubrizol Corp.,
64 F.3d 1553, 1555, 35 USPQ2d 1801, 1802 (Fed. Cir. 1995); In re Baxter,
656 F.2d 679, 686-87, 210 USPQ 795, 802-03 (CCPA 1981).
On this record, we determine the preambular language “for dissipating
heat away from a said heat generating object with a contact surface” and the
recitation in the body of claim 7 that the article has “a portion of the
thermally conductive main body being an interface layer including the
bottom interface surface, wherein the bottom interface surface of the
interface layer is in thermal communication with the contact surface fo [sic]
the heat generating object,” requires only that the claimed article must be
capable of interfacing with a contact surface of any heat generating structure,
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013