Appeal No. 98-0457
Application 08/604,813
appellants’ invention relates to “moisture barrier bags of the
type used to transport and store semiconductor wafers, and
more particularly to a bag having a window for optically
inspecting wafers contained in the bag.” Independent claim 1,
a copy of which is found in an appendix to appellants’ brief,
is exemplary of the appealed subject matter.
The references relied upon by the examiner in support of
rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 are:
Salfisberg 2,298,421 Oct. 13, 1942
Pokras 3,409,063 Nov. 5, 1968
Schwinn 3,907,291 Sept. 13, 1990
(German Patent Document)
In addition, the examiner relies on appellants’ admitted
prior art (AAPA) as set forth on page 1 of the specification
under the heading “Background of the Invention.”2
2With respect to the “Background” discussion found on
page 1 of the specification, we note the Japanese Abstract,
Publication No. 02180181 (Mitsubishi Electric Corp.), July 13,
1990, included in appellants’ Information Disclosure Statement
(Paper No. 8) filed subsequent to the final rejection and the
answer, which submission has been indicated by the examiner as
having been considered (Paper No. 11). The Mitsubishi
publication discloses a moisture proof package having a
transparent window for allowing the type and name of its
contents to be confirmed, with the transparent window being
covered by a seal that may be peeled off when the contents is
to be confirmed. In that the Mitsubishi package appears to be
for semi-conductor wafers or the like, it would seem that a
discussion thereof in the “Background” section of the
-2-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007