Appeal No. 99-0096
Application 08/640,236
prior art reference discloses, expressly or under principles
of inherency, each and every element of a claimed invention.
RCA Corp. v. Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440,
1444, 221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). It is not necessary
that the reference teach what the subject application teaches,
but only that the claim read on something disclosed in the
reference, i.e., that all of the limitations in the claim be
found in or fully met by the reference. Kalman v. Kimberly
Clark Corp., 713 F.2d 760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir.
1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1026 (1984).
As pointed out by the appellants (see page 3 in the
brief), their invention comprises, inter alia, an elongated
bar having an elongated slot extending therealong and a tie-
down bracket which is mounted in the slot and can be secured
at any point in the slot. Claims 1 and 10, the two
independent claims on appeal, recite these elements. The
examiner considers the claim limitations relating to the
elongated bar to read on Brosfske’s middle channel-shape
crossbar 26 and the claim limitations relating to the tie-down
bracket to read on Brosfske’s telescoping bar 42 and its
constituent members 50, 52 (see page 4 in the answer).
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