Appeal No. 97-0111
Application 08/139,251
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given
careful consideration to appellants' specification and claims, to
the applied prior art references, and to the respective positions
articulated by appellants and the examiner. As a consequence of
this review, we have made the determination that the examiner's
rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 will not be sustained. Our
reasons follow.
After careful review of the applied references, we must
agree with appellants that there is no teaching, suggestion or
incentive in the applied references which would have led one of
ordinary skill in the art to their combination so as to arrive at
the process for producing a suture needle as claimed by
appellants. All of the applied references disclose and teach
cold-working of the metal wire prior to bending the wire into its
curved suture needle configuration. See Everett page 2,
lines 37-63; Chisman column 3, line 56 -- column 4, line 37;
and McGregor column 6, lines 22-41.
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007