Appeal No. 1997-2257
Application No. 08/144,026
The subject matter in issue is a process for producing or
preparing a pretzel chip, disclosed in the specification as
made of pretzel dough and having concentric rings, each
connected to the adjacent ring(s) by webs. The appealed
claims are reproduced in the appendix of appellants’ brief.1
The references applied in the final rejection are:
Reesman et al. (Reesman) 3,551,165 Dec.
29, 1970
Ikoma et al. (Ikoma) 4,937,089 Jun.
26, 1990
Walsh 5,238,693 Aug. 24,
1993
Claims 2 to 16 and 18 stand finally rejected as
unpatentable over Walsh in view of Reesman and Ikoma, under 35
U.S.C. § 103.
The Walsh patent discloses, insofar as relevant here, an
essentially conventional method of making pretzels. Reesman
discloses the extrusion of dough through a die having openings
26 at its inlet and flow control pins 16 in its interior to
1Claims 3 and 4 in the appendix do not reflect the
changes therein made by the amendment filed Dec. 28, 1995.
The examiner stated in an Advisory Action (Paper No. 12, Jan.
31, 1996) that this amendment overcame the rejection of claim
4 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.
2
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