Appeal No. 1997-1317 Application No. 08/371,995 We assume that the text enclosed in parenthesis is to be treated in the same way as the numerals enclosed in parentheses, i.e., given no weight. See Manual of Patent Examining Procedure § 608.01(m) (7th ed., Rev. 1, Feb. 2000) (reference characters enclosed in parentheses are given no weight). Appellant does not contend otherwise. C. The references and grounds of rejection The references relied on by the examiner are: Strauch 4,205,314 May 27, 1980 Kipp et al. (Kipp '221) 4,245,221 Jan. 13, 1981 Kipp ('309) 4,429,309 Jan. 31, 1984 Lazarus 4,739,330 Apr. 19, 1988 Hethuin et al. (Hethuin) 5,072,223 Dec. 10, 1991 Claims 1-12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102 as anticipated by Strauch. Claims 1-6 stand rejected "under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over either Kipp et al[.] ('221) or Kipp ('309), alone, or in view of Lazarus ('330) or Hethuin et al[.] ('223)" (Answer at 4). We note that appellant's brief - 3 -Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007