Ex parte SHAPIRO - Page 6




          Appeal No. 96-1996                                                          
          Application 08/181,075                                                      


          front of pad 5, which is the manner of use disclosed, the spring            
          would have to be attached within the track of the sliding door,             
          thereby rendering the door unclosable.                                      
               The device disclosed in the Swiss reference is not intended            
          to be utilized to block a door from closing, much less to block a           
          sliding door from closing.  From our perspective, the only way              
          this device could possibly be made to work with a sliding door is           
          to intercept the door with the side of pad 5 rather than the                
          front, a mode of operation not contemplated in the reference.               
          However, we fail to perceive any teaching, suggestion or                    
          incentive which would have led one of ordinary skill in the art             
          to do so.  It therefore is our view that the Swiss reference                
          would not have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art the            
          method of preventing a sliding glass door from being completely             
          closed which is recited in independent claim 12, and thus it                
          fails to establish a prima facie case of obviousness with regard            
          to independent claim 12 or to claim 13, which depends therefrom.            
               The rejection of method claims 12 and 13 as being                      
          unpatentable over the Swiss reference is not sustained.                     
               Independent claim 15 is directed to an improvement in a                
          sliding closure assembly including a frame and a closure member,            
          and comprises a blocking member having two parallel opposed                 

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