Page 2
Appeal No. 1999-1814
Application No. 08/688,108
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention relates to a method of performing subcutaneous surgery, specifically to
illuminate the carpal tunnel area of a patient to effect the severance of the transverse carpal ligament.
An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 13, which reads as
follows:
13. A method of performing illuminated subcutaneous surgery comprising the steps
of making a relatively small incision of a determinate length in a patient's skin, providing
a surgical instrument having a pair of blade portions which when closed have a
determinate length, width and thickness; inserting the closed blade portions in the length
direction with a nose thereof leading into the small incision and with a width-defining
surface of one of the blade portions contiguous the epidermis adjacent the small
incision, rotating the closed blade portions substantially 90 degrees which brings a
thickness-defining surface of the blade portions adjacent the epidermis, subsequently
spreading the blade portions to create a volume beneath the epidermis accessible
through the incision for surgical purposes, and illuminating the volume incident to the
performance of a surgical procedure.
(...continued)
12, 1995, now U.S. Patent No. 5,569,300, and that, at the examiner's request (see Paper No. 3, page 2), appellant filed a
"clean" copy of the original parent application (specification and claims) on February 17, 1998 (Paper No. 5). While
there is no indication in the record that the "clean" copy has been entered, the amendment (Paper No. 9) filed
subsequent to the final rejection has been entered in this "clean" copy of claim 13. Appellant filed preliminary
amendments on July 29, 1996, including an amendment canceling claims 1-12. Although the preliminary amendments
and an amendment filed February 17, 1998 have not been clerically entered, it is clear from the record that (1)
appellant intends that all amendments be entered in the "clean" copy and (2) both the examiner and appellant agree
that claims 1-12 have been canceled and that claims 13-19 as reproduced in the appendix to appellant's brief (Paper
No. 8) are the currently pending claims. We leave it to the examiner to take appropriate action to address the above-
noted informalities.
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