Appeal No. 1998-0922
Application No. 08/386,862
any substrate structural orientation is provided. It is our
finding that because of the clear functional difference
achieved by Appellants’ specific claimed structure over the
undisclosed structure of Kikutani, such claimed structure can
not be considered as a mere design choice. See In re Chu, 66
F.3d 292, 299, 36 USPQ2d 1089, 1095 (Fed. Cir. 1995), and In
re Gal, 980 F.2d 717, 719, 25 USPQ2d 1076, 1078 (Fed. Cir.
1992), cited by Appellants.
Further, we have reviewed the disclosures of Schauer,
Vertin, and Inada, applied by the Examiner to address various
features of the dependent claims. We find nothing in any of
these references which would overcome the innate deficiencies
of Kikutani.
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