Appeal No. 96-1380
Application 08/219,189
to which it is transferred (by reversal of the bias on corona
generator 24) for removal by the cleaning station (not shown)
for the photoconductive member.
The grouping of the claims
Claims 1-34 stand rejected as unpatentable over the same
combination of references. Appellant's brief states (at 4)
that the following two groups of claims should be treated as
standing or falling together:
(1) Claims 1, 5-8, 12-14, 18-21, and 25-30; and
(2) Claims 2-4, 9-11, 15-18 [sic, 15-17 ], 22-24, and 31- 2
34.
The examiner objects to dividing the claims into these two
groups, because he believes that insofar as the rejection is
concerned, the particular type of transfer member is
immaterial (Answer at 1). While we do not agree that the type
of transfer member is immaterial, we note the brief does not
"explain[]
s why the claims of the group are believed to be separately
patentable," which is a condition for giving the groups of
2Group (1) includes claim 18 and its dependent
claims 19-21.
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