Appeal No. 2000-0087 Page 2
Application No. 08/592,006
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention relates to a method of sterilizing a female patient by
closing the fallopian tubes. An understanding of the invention can be derived from a
reading of exemplary claim 32, which appears in the appendix to the appellant's Brief.
The prior art reference of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims is:
Sagie et al. (Sagie) 5,107,513 Apr. 21, 1992
Claims 6 and 26-40 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable
over Sagie.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and the
appellant regarding the above-noted rejection, we make reference to the Answer (Paper
No. 13) and the final rejection (Paper No. 7) for the examiner's complete reasoning in
support of the rejection, and to the Supplemental Brief (Paper No. 12) and Reply Brief
(Paper No. 14) for the appellant's arguments thereagainst.
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to the
appellant's specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the
respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner. As a consequence of
our review, we make the determinations which follow.
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