Appeal No. 96-2178
Application 08/146,901
claim 12 specifies that the sole “layer” has “a plurality of spaced apart openings extending through less
than the entire thickness of the layer;” and claim 14 requires that the sole “layer” has
“a plurality of spaced apart openings extending less than the entire thickness of the layer” and the “walls
separating said openings” have “an upper surface and side wall surfaces formed at an angle relative to
the upper surface” (emphasis supplied). We further find that claim 11 specifies a method wherein “a
first layer” (1) has “slits” cut “completely through the thickness” thereof, (2) is then stretched to “expand
openings formed by the slits,” (3) is then fixed in the “expanded condition,” and (4) is then placed in
“abutting contact with a second layer.”
In comparing the claimed invention as encompassed by independent claims 1, 12 and 14 with
Grant in the manner applied by the examiner under § 102(b) and § 103, we agree with appellants
(brief, pages 5-11 and 14-15) that the examiner has failed to make out a prima facie case of
anticipation and of obviousness. We particularly find that Grant discloses a “filtration module 62” in
Grant Figs. 3 and 4 in which the “terminal elements 20, 24, 32 and 38 are not disposed in overlying
or underlying relationship to the interior section 16, and are thus positioned so as not to obstruct
the interior section 16 and the ribbon elements 58” (col. 7, line 65, to col. 8, line 3 ; emphasis 5
supplied). The examiner merely points to Figs. 4, 8 and 9 without explanation why these disclosures
meet all of the claim limitations (answer, pages 3 and 5).
Accordingly, based on this record, we find that the fluid filters taught by Grant do not have any
of the elements specified in claims 1, 12 and 14 which we identified above, and thus, the reference does
not describe a fluid filter which contains all of the required elements arranged as specified in claims 1
5We observe that Grant teaches that the preparation of “filtration module 62” involves the preparation
of “first flexible sheet-terminal elements assembly 44” as shown in Fig. 1, wherein “the first flexible
sheet 10 is laminated between terminal elements at each edge section 12 and 14” and “[p]referably, the
terminal elements 20, 24, 32 and 38 are disposed so as not to obstruct the intermediate section 16 of
the flexible sheet 10” (col. 4, lines 24-30). Indeed, Grant discloses that “first flexible sheet 10” has “first
and second edge sections 12 and 14” and an “intermediate” or “interior section 16,” wherein the “first
flexible sheet” is a “thin, lightweight, inert material” that can be, inter alia, “Mylar which most
preferably is no more than 0.002 inches thick” (col. 1, line 60, to col. 2, line 3). A “plurality of slits 56
are cut in the interior section 16 of the first flexible sheet-terminal elements assembly 44,” which slits
define “an elongated ribbon element 58” (col. 6, lines 1-9).
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