Appeal No. 96-3204
Application 08/129,636
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on appeal from the examiner's final
rejection of claims 10 through 30 and 32 through 39, which are
all of the claims remaining in this application. Claims 1
through 9 and 31 have been canceled.
Appellants' invention relates to a method of fixing a
natural tissue heart valve and to a natural heart valve fixed in
accordance with the recited method. On page 1 of the
specification, it is explained that "fixation" is a procedure for
stabilizing the tissue of the heart valve against degradation. A
copy of representative claims 10, 27 and 32 may be found in
Appendix A of appellants' brief.
There are no prior art references relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims.
Claims 10 through 30 and 32 through 39 stand rejected
only under 35 U.S.C. § 102(c) because the examiner considers that
appellants had abandoned their invention and thus their right to
patent the subject matter now claimed.
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