Appeal No. 96-1668
Application 08/231,258
there are no bosses in the top and bottom covers 1 and 2 in
the Sony device as well.
We, therefore, agree generally with appellants' position
at page 6 of the brief that the pin 26 in Sony appears to be
fixed only to the base and extends almost to the top surface
of the top cover 1. The erasure preventing member 8 appears
to be positioned to rotate freely about the post or pin 26.
The comparable pin appears to be in the cover 1 to support
Sony's thumb wheel-like device 8. From the teaching in Sony
it appears that a post similar to post 26 could have been
added to the boss assembly of the admitted prior art tape
cartridge, but it would not have been obvious in our view for
the artisan to have done so in light of the collective
teachings and showings relied upon.
We are also unpersuaded by the examiner's reasoning
expressed at pages 5 and 6 of the answer as to the extent or
length of the post recited in the claim being less than half
way into the erasure preventing device as set forth at the end
of representative claim 1 on appeal. The claimed length of
the post would not have been obvious in our view as a result
of routine optimization as urged by the examiner, since there
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