Appeal No. 97-1777
Application 08/328,708
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stand objected to as depending from a rejected base. Claim 15, the only other claim
pending in the application, stands allowed.
The invention relates to a device for disposing a ladder adjacent a roof without
contacting, and possibly damaging, the edge of the roof or a rain gutter associated
therewith. Claim 1 is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal and reads as follows:
1. An apparatus for securing ladders against buildings and protecting rain gutters
comprising a rear wall-mountable bar having a left end and a right end, a front ladder
contacting and supporting bar having a first end and a second end, a left cross-member
connected to the rear bar proximate to the left end and to the front bar proximate to the first
end, a right cross-member connected to the rear bar proximate to the right end and to the
front bar proximate to the second end, a left guide extending outward from the first end of
the front bar, and a right guide extending outward from the second end of the front bar.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of anticipation and
obviousness are:3
Wigington 4,813,515 Mar. 21, 1989
Aarons, 493,868 Feb. 9, 1978
2 The term “the O-ring” in claim 14 lacks a proper antecedent basis, an informality
which is deserving of correction in any further prosecution before the examiner.
3 Although the examiner makes reference to U.S. Patent No. 5,215,163 to Kent, Sr.
et al. on page 4 in the main answer to support his position, this patent has not been
included in the statement of any of the rejections on appeal. Where a reference is relied
on to support a rejection, whether or not in a minor capacity, there is no excuse for not
positively including the reference in the statement of the rejection. In re Hoch, 428 F.2d
1341, 1342 n.3, 166 USPQ 406, 407 n.3 (CCPA 1970). Accordingly, we have not
considered the teachings of Kent, Sr. et al. in reviewing the merits of the examiner's
rejections.
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