Appeal No. 97-4260
Application 08/445,660
having nine bosses 20 with stepped floors. With regard to
claim 14, the bosses at the centers of two adjacent sides of
the pallet meet appellants' asserted definition of a non-
linear arrangement, because a line joining their centers (as
shown in Appendix C of the examiner's answer) does not
intersect the center of any other boss. As discussed above,
that is sufficient to anticipate the non-linear arrangement
recited in claim 14.
We also conclude that independent claim 17 is anticipated
by Cool. This claim calls for a plurality of bosses "in a
non-symmetrical, non-hinge forming arrangement." As the
examiner points out on page 8 of the answer, the claim does
not require the bosses to be non-symmetrical about each and
every axis, and while they are symmetrical about the X and Y
axes, they are "non-symmetrical about the diagonal axis
because the pallet is rectangular." Since Cool's bosses are
non-symmetrical about at least one axis, they meet the "non-
symmetrical" limitation of claim 17; as with the term "non-
linear", supra, the term "non-symmetrical" does not exclude a
symmetrical arrangement of the bosses around some axes, but
9
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007