Appeal No. 2000-0526
Application No. 08/818,958
into the patient in the manner disclosed by Farris I, thereby
meeting the "urging" step of claim 2.
In our opinion, the method of using a plungerless syringe
disclosed by Farris I in column 4, lines 7-38, fully
anticipates the subject matter of claim 2. Farris I discloses
docking a syringe, which has an air trap (chamber 22) located
remote from a fluid exit (outlet tip 18a), with a hypodermic
needle or cannula (column 4, lines 13-14); orienting the
syringe so that the air trap is at a highest elevation as
shown in Figure 3, this orientation also performing the
"urging" step by causing any air trapped in the syringe to
move upwardly into the air trap 22 (column 4, lines 24-27);
inserting the needle into the patient and injecting the
therapeutic liquid by pressing the wall 12a forwardly (column
4, lines 31-33). While Farris I does not explicitly state
that the disclosed "horizontal" orientation of the syringe
will cause air (gas) from the device (needle or cannula) to
move upwardly into the air trap, one of ordinary skill in the
art would understand that the interior of the needle or
cannula and the container 12 are in fluid communication and
that, as such, any gas trapped in liquid which has migrated
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