Ex parte CLARK et al. - Page 7




          Appeal No. 96-0610                                                          
          Application 08/257,449                                                      


          In any case, Friedrich suggests the omission of a cover or a                
          top for a collapsible rectangular container having sidewalls                
          and end walls all hinged to a bottom wall.  According to                    
          Friedrich:                                                                  
               [s]uch an arrangement allows the lower pivoted walls                   
               to be dropped down first with the other walls                          
               pivoted down on top of them so as to form a flat and                   
               extremely com-pact assembly when collapsed.  [Column                   
               2, lines 13-17.]                                                       
               Friedrich’s teaching of forming a flat and extremely                   
          compact assembly of the container in its collapsed condition                
          in itself would have suggested the subject matter of claims 1               
          and 17. Moreover, this teaching would have suggested an                     
          arrangement in which the hinges are at levels to permit the                 
          sidewalls and the end walls to be pivoted to their collapsed                
          positions without leaving any void space especially between                 
          the end walls and the underlying sidewall.                                  
               In light of the motivation for modifying Spangler’s                    
          container as discussed supra, we are not persuaded by                       
          appellants’ argument that the proposed modifications to                     
          Spangler would “destroy the Spangler device for its intended                
          purposes” (brief, page 8).  Certainly, the elimination of                   
          Spangler’s cover and any void space between the pair of end                 

                                         -7-                                          




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007