Appeal No. 1998-1714
Application No. 08/441,823
it be in the form of a liquid, cream, powder or spray. While
this term may be broad, breadth of a claim is not to be equated
with indefiniteness. See MPEP § 2173.04 (Rev. 1, Feb. 2000).
Rejection (2)
Considering first the rejection of claim 1, Glo-Germ
discloses a process which is for essentially the same purpose as
the method recited in claim 1, namely, teaching or demonstrating
proper handwashing. As stated in Glo-Germ:
The Glo Germ kit contains a bottle of
oil, a bottle of powder, and an ultra-violet
lamp. The oil and the powder contain the
plastic germs, and the lamp lets you become
the "germ detective"!
To use the kit for handwash training,
the oil is put on the student’s hands like
hand lotion. This spreads thousands of tiny
plastic flourescent [sic] "germs" on their
hands. Then, as the student works through
your normal handwashing procedure the
flourescent [sic] lamp may be used to spot
the remaining "germs." Under the lamp, the
plastic "germs" glow brightly so that they
may be easily seen by the student.
The examiner, noting that appellant states in the specification
that the handwashing medium may be a liquid or powder (see
rejection (1), supra), takes the position that the oil and powder
of Germ-Glo are a handwashing medium, as claimed, and therefore
Glo-Germ anticipates the claim.
In order to anticipate a claim, a reference must disclose
every limitation of the claimed invention, explicitly or
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