Appeal No. 96-3696
Application No. 08/242,987
member paralleling a portion of the bone and including a means
for centering the planar member “over” the bone.
In the Bowman system, the alignment guide comprises a rod
40 “adapted to be inserted into the medullary canal in the
tibia bone” (column 2, lines 38 and 39, emphasis added). All
of the other elements of the mechanism that aligns planar
member 28 are carried by rod 40, including the means for
centering it. It is clear that Bowman utilizes an
intramedullary guide, rather than the extramedullary guide
required by this claim, and the rejection fails at the outset.
Moreover, there thus is no “body part adapted for longitudinal
connection to said extramedullary guide,” “planar member
paralleling a portion of said bone when said extramedullary
guide is properly positioned with respect to said bone,” or
“means for centering said planar member over said bone when
the extramedullary guide is properly positioned with respect
to said bone.”
Since Bowman fails to disclose all of the required
structure, it does not anticipate claim 15 and the rejection
of this claim and those which depend from it is not sustained.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007