Appeal No. 96-3544
Application No. 08/296,856
"the interior wall of the insertion end of the tube contoured
outwardly from the insertion end axis, forming an angle with the
axis less than 90 degrees to form a flared end" is that the
"flared end" referred to in claim 11 is at the actual extremity
of the claimed guide tube.
With this interpretation of the phrase, we agree with the
appellants that Heyman does not anticipate claim 11 since Heyman
does not disclose a "flared end" as recited in claim 11. While
Heyman does have a flared portion intermediate the ends of stylet
24 and catheter 26, the extremity, or end is not flared. Thus,
Heyman does not have a "flared end." Accordingly, we will not
sustain the rejection of claim 11 based on 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
being anticipated by Heyman.
We have also reviewed the Binard and Paxson references
applied with Heyman in the rejection of dependent claims 5
through 8 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 but find nothing therein which
would have suggested the deficiency of Heyman discussed above.
Accordingly, we will not sustain the examiner's rejection of
dependent claims 5 through 8 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
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