Appeal No. 96-0953 Application 08/014,682 In reaching our conclusion on the obviousness issue raised in this appeal, this panel of the board has carefully considered appellant's specification and claims, the applied references, and the respective viewpoints of appellant and the examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the determination which follows. We cannot sustain the examiner's rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Independent claim 1 is drawn to a self-locking blood collecting device comprising, inter alia, a needle guard provided with an elongated alignment groove extending a distance inwardly from a forwardmost end of the needle guard to allow alignment of the needle guard in relation to a vein of a patient. Similarly, independent claim 17 addresses a self-locking blood collecting device comprising, inter alia, a needle guard provided with an elongated groove extending a distance inwardly from the forwardmost tip of 3Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007