Appeal No. 98-3292
Application 08/611,848
above is required in the claims of the present application.
Thus, based on that portion of claims 1 through 4 and 18
through 20, which we can understand, we must refuse to sustain
the examiner’s rejection of those claims under 35 U.S.C. §
102(e) as being anticipated by Grant.
As for the examiner’s rejection of claims 6, 7 and 10
under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Gutman, we
have again given the terminology “integrally formed on one
contiguous keypad” its broadest reasonable interpretation
consistent with appellants’ specification, and share
appellants’ view that the key sets pointed to by the
examiner’s in Gutman are clearly not shown or disclosed as
being integrally formed or molded as part of a one-piece
contiguous keypad as we have concluded above is required in
the claims of the present application. The examiner’s
reliance on layman’s definitions found in dictionaries,
instead of on the guidance afforded by appellants’ written
description as such would have been understood by one of
ordinary skill in the art, in our opinion, has led the
examiner to an unreasonable interpretation of the language of
the claims before us on appeal. For that reason, we will not
sustain the examiner‘s rejection of claims 6, 7 and 10 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Gutman.
We have additionally reviewed the examiner’s reliance on
Massa, Joseph, Tracy and Grant in the § 103 rejections of
claims 8, 9 and 11 (which depend either directly or indirectly
from independent claim 6), however, we find nothing in these
added references which provides for that which we have found
above to be lacking in Gutman. Accordingly the examiner’s
rejections of claims 8, 9 and 11 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 will
likewise not be sustained.
Turning next to the examiner's rejection of claims 12,
14, 15 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Grant and Goldenberg, we note that Goldenberg discloses an
elastomeric “keypad” (30) of the general type involved in the
present application. The examiner points to the elastomeric
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