Appeal No. 1998-2065
Application 08/713,788
Claims 13 through 16 also stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, first paragraph, because “[t]hese claims are directed
to new matter. There is no support in the original disclosure
for the limitation requiring a ‘loop extension’ as recited in
the last line of claim 13" (examiner’s answer, page 3).
Having carefully reviewed the content of the appealed
claims, the disclosure in the instant application, the
teachings of the Samuel reference and the respective
viewpoints advanced in the appellants’ main and reply briefs
(Paper Nos. 8 and 11) and the examiner’s answer (Paper No.
10), we have come to the conclusion that none of the appealed
rejections is well founded.
Turning first to the 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of
claims 1 and 2, Samuel discloses a trash bag “provided with a
stretchy elastic top to stretch over the mouth of a container
to securely hold the top around the outside of the container
and means are provided for effecting a pull tie to secure the
bag closed” (Abstract). In a first embodiment (see Figures 1
and 4), the bag 11 includes a folded-over channel 16 at its
4
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