Appeal No. 2000-1782
Application No. 08/933,639
action (Paper No. 9) reopening prosecution and entering new
rejections superseding those in the final rejection. In
response, the appellants reinstated the appeal (Paper No. 11)
and filed a supplemental brief (Paper No. 14). The appeal is
now before us for decision.
THE INVENTION
The invention relates to “beverage containers which are
vented for the purpose of reducing negative pressure or vacuum
which builds up inside the container when a beverage is being
consumed therefrom” (specification, page 1). Representative
claim 1 reads as follows:
1. A vented beverage container of the type having a
drinking spout where said vent is made from a sintered
macroporous substrate and said vent is permanently secured to
the container so the container and vent form an integral one
piece unit.
THE EVIDENCE
The items relied on by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness are:
Saigne 4,271,977 Jun. 9, 1981
Bright 4,761,232 Aug. 2, 1988
Joyner et al. (Joyner) 4,865,207 Sep. 12, 1989
Rohrig 5,339,971 Aug. 23, 1994
2
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