Appeal No. 96-2682
Application 08/145,269
For each ground of rejection which
appellant contests and which applies to a
group of two or more claims, the Board shall
select a single claim from the group and
shall decide the appeal as to the ground of
rejection on the basis of that claim alone
unless a statement is included that the
claims of the group do not stand or fall
together and, in the argument under paragraph
(c)(8) of this section, appellant explains
why the claims of
the group are believed to be separately
patentable. Merely pointing out differences
in what the claims cover is not an argument
as to why the claims are separately
patentable.
Appellants have grouped the claims, as stated on pages 3 and 4
of the brief, in a manner that is inconsistent because the first
group includes all of the claims of the remaining groups. Fur-
thermore, Appellants argue the grouping of claims 2, 3 and 6
through 20 in a manner that is not consistent with the claimed
limitations because claims 2, 3, 19 and 20 do not recite a
hermetic seal. However, claims 6 through 18 do recite the
hermetic seal limitation. As per 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7), which was
controlling at the time of Appellants filing the brief, we will,
thereby, consider Appellant’s claims 1 through 5, 19 and 20 to
stand or fall together, with claim 1 being considered the
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