Appeal No. 2000-1682 Page 4
Application No. 08/845,503
We turn first to the examiner’s rejection of claim 12
under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by SU 1296174.
The examiner finds that SU 1296174 discloses a plurality of
microprotrusions that are of different length coupled to a
housing with a reservoir therein.
The appellant argues that there is no teaching in SU
129617 that the device cuts through a first layer of skin into
a second layer of skin when the device is moved parallel to
the surface of the skin.
The examiner states that statements of intended use are
given weight to the extent that the references must be capable
of performing the function. The examiner finds that the sharp
distal tip of the microprotrusions of SU 1296174 are
inherently capable of providing a cut into the skin of a
patient since needles in the medical art have extremely sharp
distal tips for penetrating skin and that dragging the tip
across a patient's skin would most certainly create a wound.
The SU 129617 device includes needles 9 which are
inserted under the skin by pressing the upper end face of body
1 until an electrode 3 comes in contact with the patient’s
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