Appeal No. 97-4248
Application 08/567,617
point, i.e., the pivot point, will be located at a point between
McConnell’s two O-rings.
In order to anticipate a claim, a reference must
disclose every limitation of the claimed invention, either
explicitly or inherently. In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477,
44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997). However, the reference
need not “teach” the invention, as long as the claims read on
something disclosed therein. Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Co.,
713 F.2d 760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert.
denied, 465 U.S. 1026 (1984).
In the present case, assuming that the portion of
McConnell’s ramp portion 38 identified by the examiner is a
“transition portion,” McConnell does not expressly disclose that
it is a point of contact between the first and second tubes.
Since McConnell also does not expressly identify a pivot point of
the coupling, claim 1 is not anticipated unless there will
inherently be contact between the tubes at area 38.
In order for a reference to anticipate a claimed limi-
tation by way of inherency, that limitation must inevitably be
present in the reference; the fact that it may be present is not
sufficient, as inherency cannot be established by probabilities
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