Appeal No. 1998-0340
Application 08/449,682
between the terms “sheet” and “film.” It is true that Inaba
talks about its element 21 as a film, however, the meaning of
film in Inaba is not the same as Appellant alleges. The term
“film” is defined by “The American Heritage Dictionary”,
second college edition, as “[a] thin, generally flexible
transparent sheet, as of plastic used in wrapping or
packaging” (emphasis added). Clearly, the term “film” is not
restricted to a coating. This is also borne out by the manner
in which element 21 is described in Inaba. For example,
Inaba, at col. 4, lines 1 to 5, states that “[t]he transparent
conductive film 20 is coated on ... film 21, and the laminate
... is sandwiched ... between glass sheets 12 and 14.” The
term “laminate” is defined, by the supra dictionary, as “[a]
laminated product, as plywood.” Thus, Inaba implies that the
laminate of elements 20 and 21 is a sheet which is sandwiched
between the glass sheets and the interlayers 16 and 16'.
Furthermore, since element 20 is disclosed to be just a
coating (Inaba, col. 4, line 2), element 21 of Inaba has to be
a sheet, and we so conclude. Thus, we sustain the
anticipation rejection of claim 1 and, hence, claims 2, 3, 5,
6, 8 and 9 over Inaba.
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