Appeal No. 1999-0627 Page 10
Application No. 08/688,991
angle as recited in claim 9 and the lengths of each section as
recited in claim 8. However, it is the examiner's position
that these dimensions would have been obvious, as "[a] change
in size is generally recognized as being within the level of
ordinary skill in the art" (final rejection, page 2). As to
claim 5, the examiner implicitly concedes that Nunn lacks a
chamfer on the hang hole of the utensil handle, but contends
that it would have been obvious to form a hang hole with a
chamfer on the Nunn handle for the purpose of storage. As to
claims 6 and 7, the examiner asserts that the specific shapes
of the forward and intermediate sections recited therein would
have been obvious matters of design choice, "since applicant
has not disclosed that the specific shapes of the forward,
rear and intermediate sections solve any stated problem and it
appears that one of ordinary skill in the art would find it
obvious to form the handle in numerous configurations for the
purpose of providing mating surfaces to accommodate a user's
hand" (final rejection, pages 2 and 3). Finally, as to claim
10, the examiner's position is that kitchen utensils having a
rectangular cross-section are well known and the provision of
a hole (or cavity 13) in rectangular shape to fit the utensils
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007