Appeal No. 1997-2770
Application No. 08/329,994
finger (see elements 19-24 in Richter's Figure 2). Thus,
Richter fails to meet the claimed rib members.
Lastly, the examiner points to members 13-15 as the
claimed ring members. However, elements 13 and 14 are not
located at a free end of the rib member, as required by the
claims, and element 15 is "a hollow, closed ended finger
member 15 which more resembles a thimble than an 'annular ring
formation'" (see Brief, page 14). Therefore, Richter lacks
the ring members recited in each independent claim. Since
Richter does not disclose each and every element of the
claims, and the examiner has provided no evidence of or
reasoning for the obviousness of the missing elements, the
examiner has failed to present a prima facie case of
obviousness. Accordingly, we cannot sustain the rejection of
independent claims 1, 4, 7, 12, and 15, nor of their
dependents, claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 through 11, 13, 14, and 16
through 19.
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