Ex parte CLARK et al. - Page 8




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


          walls and the underlying sidewall to form a flat and extremely              
          compact assembly in the collapsed condition of the container                
          as expressly suggested by Friedrich would not destroy                       
          Spangler’s container for its intended purpose, namely to store              
          or transport articles.                                                      
               In view of the foregoing, we conclude that the subject                 
          matter of claims 1 and 17 would have been obvious from the                  
          combined teachings of Spangler and Friedrich if not from                    
          either reference alone.  We will therefore sustain the                      
          examiner’s § 103 rejection of claims 1 and 17.                              
               We will also sustain the examiner’s § 103 rejection of                 
          dependent claims 2 and 4 through 7.  Merely reiterating what                
          each of these dependent claims recites or that these dependent              
          claims are considered to patentable because claim 1 is                      
          considered to be patentable does not amount to an argument                  
          that these dependent claims are patentable separately of the                
          claims from which they depend. In short, appellants have                    
          failed to argue the patentability of the dependent claims with              
          any reasonable specificity.  They therefore stand or fall with              
          claim 1.  See In re Nielson, 816 F.2d 1567, 1572, 2 USPQ2d                  
          1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1987) and In re Burckel, 592 F.2d 1175,               

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