Appeal No. 2000-0286 Page 8
Application No. 08/704,031
Claims 8 to 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as containing subject matter which was not
described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably
convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the appellants,
at the time the application was filed, had possession of the
claimed invention. The original disclosure (p. 10) provided
that the liquid-absorbent pad included a liquid-permeable
topsheet 38, a liquid-impermeable backsheet 39 and a liquid-
absorbent panel disposed therebetween. Original claim 1
provided that the liquid-absorbent pad comprises a liquid-
permeable topsheet, a backsheet and a liquid-absorbent panel
disposed between these two sheets. Claim 8 (first presented
in the amendment filed on June 13, 1997, Paper No. 7) recites
that the liquid-absorbent pad comprises a liquid-impermeable
topsheet, a backsheet and a liquid-absorbent panel disposed
therebetween. After reviewing the original disclosure, we
fail to find any written description support for the topsheet
of the liquid-absorbent pad being liquid-impermeable.
The obviousness rejection
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