Appeal No. 97-2783
Application 08/388,089
Appellants' invention relates to an acetabular cup used in
an orthopaedic procedure to replace a worn or damage acetabulum
(hip socket) of a patient. A copy of representative claims 1, 12
and 13 on appeal, as they appear in the Appendix to appellants'
brief, is attached to this decision.
The prior art references relied upon by the examiner in
rejecting the appealed claims are:
Morscher 4,769,041 Sep. 06, 1988
Frey et al. (Frey '355) 4,978,355 Dec. 18, 1990
Serbousek et al. (Serbousek) 5,336,265 Aug. 09, 1994
Claims 1, 4 through 11, 13 and 15 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Morscher. According to the
examiner, "Although Morscher does not explicitly state the tensile
strength of the interface, it would be inherent that the socket of
Morscher would meet the claimed limitations".
Claims 1 through 11, 13 and 15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as being anticipated by Frey '355.2
Of the claims rejected as being anticipated by Frey '355, claims 12
through 11 and 13 were rejected in a new ground of rejection in the examiner's
answer, while claim 15 was finally rejected based on Frey '355. However, since
appellants have not chosen to pursue the appeal as to claims 2 and 3, we
consider this rejection only as to claims 1, 4 through 11, 13 and 15.
2
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