Appeal No. 1998-3413
Application No. 08/512,782
ring member (10) are located at the lower "extremity" of the
ring member and include a camming surface at the lower
extremity which permits sliding of the camming surface along
the outer surface of the flower pot rim and engagement of the
locking tabs or lips (15) under the shoulder (18N) of the rim.
Unlike appellant’s claim 3 above, claims 16 and 17 on appeal
do not require that the locking tabs be formed at an outer
extremity of the ring member, but merely set forth that such
tabs are formed at an extremity of the ring member (e.g., in
the case of Coleman, at the lower extremity of the collar or
ring member 10).
Regarding the examiner’s rejection of claims 18 and 19
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based on Coleman in view of "the
state of the art," we observe that independent claim 18 sets
forth the step of molding a rim of a flower pot with the rim
defining a continuous radius (e.g., 28 in application Fig. 2)
at the upper extremity of the side wall (14) of the pot and
extending downwardly along the outside of the side wall of the
flower pot (see rim 26 in Fig. 2). In addition, this claim
requires the step of molding a decorative resilient ring
16
Page: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007