Appeal No. 1998-2811
Application 08/670,137
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Gerstenberger in view
of Nelson.
Reference is made to the appellants’ main and reply
briefs (Paper Nos. 19 and 21) and to the examiner’s answer
(Paper No. 20) for the respective positions of the appellants
and the examiner with regard to the merits of these
rejections.
Gerstenberger discloses an interlabia absorbent pad 12
sewn to define elongated panels 86 and 88 (see Figure 2). In
its basic construction, the pad consists of an inner rope 16
of absorbent rayon fiber and an outer, liquid-permeable,
polypropylene web cover 34 having a longitudinal heat-sealed
seam 82.
The Gerstenberger pad does not meet the limitations in
independent claim 1 requiring the web covering to be
“biodegradable” and to have elongated edges joined “by a
process other than heat sealing.” As indicated above,
Gerstenberger’s web covering is made of polypropylene and its 2
2 The record before us establishes that polypropylene is
not biodegradable. See, for example, page 2 in the
3
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