Appeal No. 97-4177
Application No. 08/502,276
together of the opposite ends of a single length of strapping
material while held under tension for the purpose of providing
a binding on a package or bundle (see, e.g., page 3). What is
entirely missing from these three references is any fair
suggestion of connecting together the ends of two separate
flexible bridging members with a predetermined tension. In
our view, the examiner has impermissibly relied upon the
appellant’s own teachings in arriving at a conclusion of
obviousness. As the court in Uniroyal, 837 F.2d at 1051, 5
USPQ2d at 1438 stated "it is impermissible to use the claims
as a frame and the prior art references as a mosaic to piece
together a facsimile of the claimed invention."
As to rejections (2) through (7), we have carefully
reviewed the teachings of the Swiss patent, Gstalder, Tracy,
Bodell, Lane and Schoeller but find nothing therein which
would overcome the deficiencies of Powell, Paine and RAPZ that
we have noted above.
The decision of the examiner to reject claims 1-26 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 is reversed.
REVERSED
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