Appeal No. 1998-0252
Application No. 08/555,795
nature of the band” (703 F.2d at 1387, 217 USPQ at 405). Here
again, the court believed a “functional relationship” was
established between the indicia and the structure upon which
it was placed, which allowed patentable weight to be given to
the indicia.
The final case cited by the appellant is In re Lowry. 5
Here, the court was dealing with data objects, which the
examiner urged were analogous to printed matter. The court
did not agree, stating that the case was distinguishable from
the printed matter cases (32 F.3d at 1583, 32 USPQ2d at 1034).
While we do not quarrel with the quotation to which the
appellant refers, we are of the view that to the extent it may
be relevant it merely confirms the positions espoused by the
court in the other two cases.
It is our view that the invention recited in claim 1 does
not meet the test applied in Miller and Gulack. Unlike those
situations, the only relationship between the elongated sheet
and the indicia in claim 1 is the expected one - the indicia
is supported by the sheet. The fact that the three indicia
labels contain specific information and are arranged in a
532 F.3d 1579, 32 USPQ2d 1031 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
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