Appeal No. 2000-0310
Application 08/848,759
outside o-ring 52. Although this figure is merely an
embodiment of the claimed invention, there is nothing in the
specification which indicates that “gripped” in the
appellant’s claims is to be interpreted more broadly than
meaning that the insulator ring is grasped by the first and
second threaded inserts themselves.
Because Cheng does not disclose an insulator ring which
is gripped, as that term is used by the appellant, by first
and second threaded inserts, the reference does not anticipate
the claimed invention. See Scripps Clinic & Research Found.
v. Genentech Inc., 927 F.2d 1565, 1576, 18 USPQ2d 1001, 1010
(Fed. Cir. 1991) (In order for a claimed invention to be
anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b), all of the elements of
the claim must be found in one reference). Consequently, we
reverse the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e). Also, because
the examiner has provided no explanation as to why one of
ordinary skill in the art would have modified Cheng such that
an insulator ring is gripped by first and second threaded
inserts, we reverse the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
DECISION
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