Appeal No. 1999-0610 Page 3
Application No. 08/601,186
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to a catheter assembly
having at least a distal portion thereof coated with a
lubricious coating. An understanding of the invention can be
derived from a reading of exemplary claim 49, which reads as
follows:
49. A catheter assembly, said catheter comprising an
elongate tubular member having proximal and distal
ends and an inner lumen extending between said ends,
said member comprising:
(a) a relatively stiff proximal segment;
(b) a relatively flexible distal segment; and
(c) a transition section between said proximal and
said distal segments that is less flexible than the
distal segment but more flexible than the proximal
segment,
wherein at least the distal segment has been coated
with a lubricious coating consisting essentially of
a lubricity-causing polymer or oligomer comprising
monomers of polysaccharides.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Castillo et al. (Castillo) 5,171,232 Dec. 15,
1992
Eury 5,342,621 Aug.
30, 1994
(filed Sep. 15, 1992)
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007