Appeal No. 1998-0483
Application No. 08/543,840
and applying "said segment while so stretched to the
article...." Thus, the appellant's claim 1 requires stretching
prior to applying the label to the article whereas, as noted
above, Herdzina teaches the stretching does not begin until a
moment after the label is applied to the article. The
language in the other independent method claim, claim 12, is
similar in that it requires applying and mounting the
elastically deformed segment onto the article. In our view
Herdzina does not teach or suggest the applying step of
appellant's claims 1 and 12. Accordingly, we cannot sustain
the examiner's rejection of appealed claims 1 and 12, or of
claims 2 through 6, 10, 11, 13 and 15 through 18 which depend
therefrom, under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Turning to the examiner's rejection of article claims 7
through 9, we note that claim 7 recites:
7. An article having a body portion and a segment of
sheet material wrapped around it and secured to it, said
segment having a leading edge and a trailing edge,
said segment being elastic and being in a stretched,
elastically deformed condition on the article such that the
length of said segment between said leading and trailing edges
of said segment on said article is greater than the length
between said leading and trailing edges of said segment in a
11
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