Appeal No. 97-2116
Application 07/789,802
portion of the tubular container body is “shrunk thereon for
radially inwardly squeezing said container body for increasing
the axial strength thereof.” In rejecting claim 1 as being
anticipated by Roales, the examiner has taken the position
with respect to this claim limitation that “[b]y its very
nature the shrunk protective sleeve [of Roales] will apply a
compressive force to increase the axial strength of the inner
container” (answer, page 5). It thus appears to be the
examiner’s position that the label 42 of Roales will
inherently function in the manner called for in claim 1. We
cannot accept this position.
A careful reading of the specification of Roales
indicates that the label thereof is secured to a container by
adhering the leading end of the label to the container,
wrapping the label about the container, and adhering the
overlapping leading and trailing ends of the label to each
other (column 4, lines 42-45
and 60-62; column 6, lines 6-10). The top and bottom of the
label are thereafter shrunk into conformation with the tapered
top and bottom portions of the container sidewall (column 5,
-7-
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