Appeal No. 96-1415
Application No. 08/088,625
a continuously planar bottom side and a dressing (cover)
component 106,126 directly attached to sheet 102 by a
releasable seal, such as pressure-sensitive adhesive, to
permit replacement of the cover component without removing the
dressing (col. 5, lines 22 to 26; see also col. 4, lines 11 to
20). With regard to claims 4 and 7, which recite that the
contact component is “configured” to permit placement of
fasteners (claim 4), or to permit application of pressure
(claim 7), it appears that any sheet, such as 102 of Gilman,
would be “configured” to permit such actions, whether they
were performed or not.
(ii) Claim 23 is rejected as unpatentable over Gilman
‘510 in view of Gilman ‘362. An important goal of Gilman ‘510
is to avoid removal of the dressing from the skin of the
patient until healing is completed (see col. 7, lines 18 to
23), and Gilman ‘362 discloses that using a transparent sheet
allows inspection of the wound without removing the dressing
from the skin (col. 6, lines 12 to 16). In view of this
teaching, it would have been obvious to make the contact
component of Gilman ‘510 of transparent material.
(iii) Claim 33 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
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