Appeal No. 97-1027
Application 08/218,954
proper anticipatory reference for claims 32, 33, 38 and 42.
For the foregoing reasons, we must reverse the § 102(b)
rejection of claims 32, 33, 38 and 42. We must also reverse the
§ 103 rejection of claims 34 through 37, 39 and 41 because we
find nothing that would have suggested the claimed relationship
of the transverse wicking rates for appellants’ second and third
absorbent layers.
With regard to the § 102(b) rejection of claim 30, this
claim requires that the transverse wicking rate of the second
absorbent layer be greater than the transverse wicking rate of
the first absorbent layer and further that transverse wicking
rate of the third absorbent layer be less than the transverse
wicking rate of the second absorbent layer. Contrary to the
examiner’s position, we find no disclosure in Ness which
expressly or inherently meets the claimed limitation pertaining
the relationship of the transverse wicking rates for the
absorbent layers. As a result the § 102(b) rejection of claim 30
also must be reversed. See RCA Corp. v. Applied Digital Data
Systems, Inc., 730 F.2d at 1444, 221 USPQ. at 388.
The examiner’s decision rejecting appealed claims 30, 32
through 39, 41 and 42 is reversed, and the appeal as to claim 40
is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007