Appeal No. 2000-2061 Page 5
Application No. 08/463,843
last for producing a second shoe embodiment, which comprises four separate and
unconnected cavities for receiving cushioning inserts. With regard to the method of
manufacture, neither embodiment would require that there be a mold insert extending
continuously from the toe region to the heel region of the shoe, as is required by claim 15.
In addition, the Funck specification gives rise to a third, and unillustrated, embodiment of
the invention, in which an insert is present only in the toe region of the shoe (7 in Figure 1).
This stems from the statement that the additional mold inserts shown in Figures 1 and 4
need not be present, to wit, the invention “can have, besides the extension under the ball
part, additional extensions under the joint and heel parts which in the sole member form
several cavities which are subdivided by webs” (column 2, lines 49-53, emphasis added).
Desma-Werke discloses a shoe in which cushioning material is located in a cavity
that extends continuously from the toe region to the heel region of the shoe. The purpose
of this construction is to “be ensured that an adequate or genuine air-cushion effect can be
achieved with the sole” (page 1, lines 43-45). The method by which the Desma-Werke
shoe is made is not disclosed.
As we understand the examiner’s rejection, it is grounded in the statement in Funck,
quoted above, that the extensions in the last in the heel portion of the shoe that are shown
in Figure 4 (and one of which would be present in a last for making the embodiment of
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