Appeal No. 97-2739
Application No. 08/210,757
matter or recognition of properties that are inherently possessed
by the reference. See Verdegaal Bros. Inc. v. Union Oil Co.,
814 F.2d 628, 631, 2 USPQ2d 1051, 1054 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied,
484 U.S. 827 (1987). Also, a reference anticipates a claim if it
discloses the claimed invention such that a skilled artisan could
take its teachings in combination with his own knowledge of the
particular art and be in possession of the invention. See In re
Graves, 69 F.3d 1147, 1152, 36 USPQ2d 1697, 1701 (Fed. Cir.
1995), cert. denied, 116 S.Ct. 1362 (1996), quoting from In re
LeGrice, 301 F.2d 929, 936, 133 USPQ 365, 372 (CCPA 1962).
With this as background, we turn to the rejection of
appealed claim 1 under § 102(b) as being anticipated by Ding.
The patent to Ding discloses a biosignal electrode device in
Figures 1 through 4 that includes an electrically conductive
layer 1 having a sensor 9, 9' and a lead 5 for the sensor.
Central to the appellants' position is the argument that even if
one were to consider the portion of the conductive layer 1 of
Ding that bears the sensor 9, 9' to be upstanding, that portion
"is not upstanding from surrounding substrate" (reply brief, page
2) as required by appealed claim 1, but instead "is formed
adjacent to the remainder of the substrate" (reply brief, page
2). Appellants have also cited a common dictionary definition of
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