Appeal No. 98-1314
Application No. 08/421,640
narrowed medial region (independent claim 38) cannot be
dismissed as a matter of engineering design choice as the
examiner has proposed with respect to each of these claims.
The appellants, however, have presented no convincing argument
or evidence that the particular configuration of the leading
region of the securing means is in any way significant (see,
e.g., In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 672-73, 149 USPQ 47, 50
(CCPA 1966)) or results in a fastener which performs and
operates any differently than the prior art (see, e.g.,
Gardner v. TEC Systems, Inc. 725 F.2d 1338, 1349, 220 USPQ
777, 786 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225
USPQ 232 (1984) and In re Troiel, 274 F.2d 944, 948-49, 124
USPQ 502, 505 (CCPA 1960)). Indeed, the appellants do not
even contest the examiner's position that rectangular tabs
would "perform equally well" (answer, pages 5 and 6).
Instead of attaching any importance or criticality for
the particular configuration of the leading region of the
securing means, the specification merely states that this
configuration "can be" substantially T-shaped (see, e.g.,
5
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