Appeal No. 1996-2645
Application 08/229,910
From reviewing the rejection of the claims, it does not appear that the examiner has
considered the full scope of the claims on appeal. As a consequence it may be that the
examiner’s search is incomplete. In particular, from reviewing the application file, it does
not appear that the examiner searched in the following classes and subclasses which
appear to be relevant in determining the patentability of the claims: class 604/ subclasses
304, 307 and class 602/ subclasses 41+, in particular subclasses 47 and 59.
As a consequence of the action we take today, claims 4 and 6-10 are free of
rejection. Upon return of the application, the examiner is urged to re-evaluate the full scope
of the claims and ensure that a complete search of the prior art has been performed.
TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE
This opinion contains a new ground of rejection pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b)
(amended effective Dec. 1, 1997, by final rule notice, 62 Fed. Reg. 53, 131, 53, 197 (Oct.
10, 1997), 1203 Off. Gaz. Pat. & Trademark Office 63, 122 (Oct. 21, 1997)).
37 CFR § 1.196(b) provides that, “A new ground of rejection shall not be considered final
for purposes of judicial review.”
37 CFR § 1.196(b) also provides that appellant, WITHIN TWO MONTHS FROM
THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise one of the following two options with
respect to the new ground of rejection to avoid termination of proceedings (1.197(c)) as to
the rejected claims.
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