Appeal No. 2000-0522
Application No. 08/934,826
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention relates to a convertible package and bowl (claims 1-3) and a
self sealable bowl (claims 4-6) comprised of flexible sheet material. According to the appellant,
an important feature of the invention is its capability to be "converted into an effective serving
bowl" (specification, page 2), in that, as explained on page 4 of the specification, the flexible
container may be opened widely into a generally squared off configuration and remain so
opened. The appellant's specification informs us that this feature is achieved by limiting the
height of the sides to less than twice the width of the bottom of the package. An understanding
of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claims 1 and 4, which appear in
the appendix to the appellant's brief.
The sole prior art reference of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims is:
Akai et al. (Akai) 2-4651 Jan. 9, 19901
(Japanese patent application)
An additional prior art reference of record relied upon by this panel of the Board in
remanding the application to the examiner is:
Erickson et al. (Erickson) 4,837,849 Jun. 6, 19892
1We derive our understanding of this reference from the translation submitted by the appellant with Paper
No. 6.
2This reference was cited by the appellant in Paper No. 2 and a copy is of record in the application file.
2
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