Appeal No. 97-0937
Application No. 08/054,508
prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the
art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881
(CCPA 1981).
Independent claim 46 is directed to a disposable
absorbent article. Among the features recited in the claim is
a pair of containment flaps operatively joined at
their respective end portions in a transversely
foreshortened state to said waste containment
assembly.
Enloe, the primary reference cited against the claims, also
discloses a disposable absorbent article comprising a pair of
containment flaps (30 & 32). However, there is a difference
between the structure of Enloe and that required by claim 46.
The claim specifies that the containment flaps be “in a
transversely foreshortened state” at their end portions. As
explained in the specification, this means that at their end
portions the flaps (which already include a fold at distal end
65 in which elastic 67 is positioned) are folded over upon
themselves, that is, shortened, so that the distal edges are
closer to the proximal edges (pages 15 and 16; compare Figures
6A and 6B). According to the appellants, this results in the
center portions of the containment flaps being more upright
4
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