Ex parte STEKETEE - Page 7




                     Appeal No. 1997-4430                                                                                                                                              
                     Application 08/421,463                                                                                                                                            


                     end of a shorter leg nesting behind the bulbous end of a                                                                                                          
                     longer leg to minimize the overall thickness of the folded                                                                                                        
                     pipe.                                                                                                                                                             


                                As to claim 61, we find that the claimed replacement pipe                                                                                              
                     product is not anticipated by the Laurent teaching.  As can be                                                                                                    
                     discerned from the Laurent document, an initial cylindrical                                                                                                       
                     tube is provided with an elastic memory, which initial tube                                                                                                       
                     shape is subsequently returned to or regained from a deformed                                                                                                     
                     tube configuration (Figs. 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D).   This is not                                       4                                                              
                     the  replacement tube product of claim 61 which requires a                                                                                                        
                     memory for a “reduced non-circular form”.                                                                                                                         


                                                               The Obviousness Rejections                                                                                              


                                We reverse the respective rejections of claims 39 through                                                                                              
                     41 and 65, and claim 66 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, for reasons set                                                                                                    
                     forth, infra.                                                                                                                                                     


                                4 We note that the teaching of Laurent is somewhat akin to                                                                                             
                     the embodiment of appellant’s Figures 1 and 3 wherein a memory                                                                                                    
                     exists for a rounded tubular shape.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                          7                                                                                            





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