Appeal No. 1999-2660 Page 6
Application No. 08/850,313
first and second end portions of adjacent pedestals to weave about one another to intertwine
when brought together in alignment. Additionally, we interpret "end portions" as being those
portions of the bar forming the extremities of the length dimension.
The teachings of Reiter are particularly pertinent to the appellants' invention in that
Reiter, like the appellants, discloses pedestals (10a, 10b) for use with generally narrow and
relatively high computer components (72, 74) to stabilize them while also permitting nesting of
a plurality of the computer components in a side-by-side configuration (column 1, lines 6-9).
Each pedestal comprises a base which is shaped substantially as a parallelepiped having a length
(l) on the order of 18.5 inches and a width (w) on the order of about 8.75 inches (column 3,
lines 45-52), a pair of spaced stabilizers (20, 22) extending from one side of the base and a
single stabilizer (18) extending from the other side of the base. While the stabilizer (18) is
adapted to nest in the channel between the stabilizers (20, 22) and the stabilizers (20, 22) are
likewise adapted to nest in the channels bordering the stabilizer (18), we are of the opinion that
one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably consider these stabilizers to be side portions
and not "end portions" as required by the claims, in that they form the extremities of the width
(shorter dimension) and not the length (longer dimension) of the pedestal. Moreover, without
the benefit of the appellants' disclosure, it is not apparent to us why one of ordinary skill in the
art would have been motivated to change the shape of the Reiter pedestal, which is disclosed as
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