Appeal No. 96-0211
Application 07/929,150
and symmetrical. The asymmetrical nature of Applicant’s
stent results from the spiral nature of the cell pattern.
Furthermore, the intersection of the wires forming the cells
in Applicant’s stent is smooth and continuous whereas the
wires forming the stent in Palmaz overlap to form a sharp,
pointed and angular appearance. The walls of Applicant’s
stent are of single wire thickness whereas at least the
overlapping points in the Palmaz construction are of two
wire thicknesses.
. . .
. . . In summary, Applicant’s stent has an ornamental
appearance of a single continuous, half-round wire in a
curvilinear waveform pattern spirally wound into a
tubular shape with the troughs and peaks of vertically
adjacent waveforms connected in the same plane to form
a spiral series of curvilinear asymmetric rhomboid
cells. On the other hand, the Palmaz design has an
overall appearance of multiple offset rows of
symmetric, repetitive diamond-shaped cells formed by
two parallel sets of multiple wires which are oriented
at an acute angle to each other.
. . .
Applicant’s stent and Palmaz’s graft are similar
to the extent that they both have wire frames which
form a cylindrical tube.
The above-noted differences in the appearances of the
designs of Palmaz and appellant are not minute as argued by the
examiner (answer, pages 3, 4 and 7).
The examiner argues that the designs of both Palmaz and
appellant have the overall appearance of a tubular-shaped stent
which has numerous rhomboid cells in a repetitive pattern which
are formed of wire (answer, page 7). This argument is deficient
in that the examiner does not address the many differences in the
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