Appeal No. 1996-3547 Page 7
Application No. 08/089,854
2 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1987); In re Kaslow, 707 F.2d
1366, 1376, 217 USPQ 1089, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 1983). We will direct
our comments primarily to claim 68.
Jones discloses a prosthetic device comprising a plastic
material including a first polyether component such as
poly(ethylene glycol) and a second water stabilizing component
such as an ester, urethane or amide. Appellants do not
specifically dispute the examiner's finding (answer, page 4) that
the polymers disclosed for use in fashioning the prosthetic
device of Jones (U.S. patent No. 3,908,201) fully meet the
polymer material utilized in the claimed prosthetic device.2
Appellants urge that the claimed subject matter is
patentably distinguished from Jones based on the claimed
functional limitation requiring the device to be "suitable for
placing the prosthetic device in contact with bone" (claim 68).
According to appellants, this functional limitation limits the
device to a particular shape and wherein the device has bone
bonding capabilities (brief, pages 4-8). We disagree.
2 We note that appellants have indicated that their
"...copolymers may be prepared as described in U.S. Patent No.
3,908,201" (specification, page 8). Moreover, appellants have
acknowledged that the claimed copolymers "... are known in the
art..." (brief, page 3).
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