Appeal No. 1997-0166
Application No. 08/409,933
Yabe JP 62-232147 Oct. 12, 1987
Claims 8, 9, and 11-28 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Yabe in view of Merrin and Engeler.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and the appellants
regarding the above-noted rejection, we make reference to the examiner's answer (Paper No. 23,
mailed June 26, 1996) for the examiner's complete reasoning in support of the rejections, and to
appellants' brief (Paper No. 21, filed June 14, 1996) and reply brief (Paper No. 25, filed August 22,
1996) for appellants' arguments thereagainst.
We note that the examiner’s answer contains a new ground of rejection. Appellants filed an
amendment in response to the new ground of rejection (Paper No. 24, filed August 22, 1996). In an
advisory action (Paper No. 26, mailed October 25, 1996) and an interview summary (Paper No. 35,
mailed May 18, 1999) the examiner noted that the amendment filed on August 22, 1996 has been
entered. A copy of the claims on appeal is found as an appendix to appellants' reply brief.
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to appellants'
specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the respective positions
articulated by the appellants and the examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the
determinations which follow.
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