Appeal No. 96-1948
Application 07/995,952
Prior Art Rejection
1. Dunn Reference Relied Upon
Appellants filed the Appeal Brief in this application on the premise that the Dunn
reference relied upon by the examiner was U.S. Patent No. 4,841,968. See the paragraph
bridging pages 2-3 and pages 7-11 of the Appeal Brief. However, the examiner identifies
the Dunn reference relied upon in the prior art rejection as U.S. Patent No. 4,522,804. See
page 3 of the Examiner’s Answer.
Upon return of the application, the examiner should clarify which Dunn reference is
relied upon in the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
2. Statement of the Rejection Under 35 U.S.C. § 103
Apart from the question as to which Dunn reference the examiner relies upon, the
statement of the rejection on pages 4-6 of the Examiner’s Answer is not clear. The
examiner has not referred to any individual claim on appeal. Nor has he specifically set
forth how the relied upon references are combined or applied under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
As set forth in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) § 706.02(j) (6th ed.,
Rev. 3, July 1997),
the examiner should set forth in the Office action (1) the relevant teachings of
the prior art relied upon, preferably with reference to the relevant column or
page number(s) and line number(s) where appropriate, (2) the difference or
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