Appeal No. 1996-2811
Application 08/402,670
the appealed claims, do more than merely state a purpose or
intended use of the claimed structure, but instead
serve to provide a definition of the invention and give "life
and meaning" to the claimed subject matter such that it must
therefore be considered as a positive limitation in
determining patentability. See Corning Glass Works v.
Sumitomo Electric U.S.A. Inc., 868 F.2d 1251, 1257, 9 USPQ2d
1962, 1966 (Fed. Cir. 1989) and Diversitech Corp. v. Century
Steps Inc., 850 F.2d 675, 7 USPQ2d 1315 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
Since we have concluded that the teachings and
suggestions found in the references applied by the examiner
would not have made the subject matter as a whole of claims 1
through 18 on appeal obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art at the time of appellants’ invention, we must refuse to
sustain the examiner’s rejection of those claims under 35
U.S.C. § 103.
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