Appeal No. 1996-2645
Application 08/229,910
through the back side adhesive layer (49). See Figures 1-3 in Schaar. The perforations
(42) provide ventilation and aeration of the skin of a person to whom the adhesive tape is
applied. The adhesive layer (49) is faced with a protective facing sheet and sterilized.
See Figure 5 in Schaar where the numeral 59 designates a facing sheet in the process of
being stripped from the adhesive layer (51) as it is passing over and past the outer
peripheral edge (58).
While Schaar does not explicitly recite that the material (41) out of which the tape is
made is non-allergenic, it is reasonable to conclude that the material (41) is non-allergenic
since the tape is intended to be applied to the skin of a human being. We understand that
the tape taught by Schaar is not described as being useful as an allergy test strip as
recited in the preamble of claims 1 and 2. However, in our view, this language of the
claims only recites an intended use of the device and does not serve to further limit the
claimed device. Neither the claims nor the specification recite specific structural features
of the device, e.g., size of the perforations, etc., which would allow one to conclude that the
claimed device is structurally different than the tape of Scaar. On this record, the preamble
language does not serve to distinguish the claimed device from the tape described by
Schaar.
OTHER ISSUES
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