Appeal No. 1999-2092 Page 14
Application No. 08/798,718
We sustain the rejection of claim 47 under 35 U.S.C. §
103.
Claim 47 adds to parent claim 42 the limitation that the
bag "is polygonal and said line of weakness occupies the
greater
portion of the length of one side of the polygonal bag."[2]
The examiner ascertained (final rejection, p. 3) that
Salvadori discloses the claimed invention except for the line
of weakness occupying the greater portion of the length of the
margin. The examiner then determined that
[i]t would have been an obvious matter of design choice
to make the central portion of the Salvadori line of
weakness longer such that it occupies a greater portion
of the margin, since such a modification would have
involved a mere change in the size of a component. A
change in size is generally recognized as being within
the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105
USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
2We believe the broadest reasonable interpretation
consistent with the specification of the phrase "greater
portion" is "more than 50%."
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