Appeal No. 99-0165
Application 08/478,070
independent claim 16 in that
Japan ‘735 discloses an elongated belt,
comprising:
an elongated plastic thread member 2;
a plurality of plastic guide elements arranged
sequentially along the member, with each guide
element having a positioning bore (i.e. each guide
element is deemed to comprise 3 and that portion of
1 containing the bore but not the slot); and
a plurality of plastic component parts
integrally connected to the guide elements (i.e.
each component part is deemed to comprise that
portion of 1 containing the slot but not the bore),
wherein the positioning bore in each of the
guide elements has a fixed spatial relationship to
the connected component part [answer, page 3].
The appellant, on the other hand, persuasively argues
that the examiner’s finding of anticipation is unsound because
the Japanese reference does not meet the limitations in claim
16 requiring the claimed belt to comprise a plurality of guide
elements each having at least one positioning bore and a
plurality of component parts each integrally connected to one
of the guide elements (see pages 6 through 11 in the brief).
Arguably, a person of ordinary skill in the art would view
each Japanese base part 3 and pinching piece 1 as constituting
a guide element and component part, respectively. Such a
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Last modified: November 3, 2007