Appeal No. 2000-2223
Application No. 09/040,271
The references applied in the final rejection are:1
Loscher 2,711,539 June 28, 1955
“Eastbay Catalog”, Pro Player Youth Home Away Jackets,
pg. 36, (Spring 1996).
The claims on appeal stand finally rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable as follows:
(1) claims 1 and 2, unpatentable over Loscher;
(2) claims 1 and 2, unpatentable over the Eastbay Catalog.
Reference is made to appellant’s brief (Paper No. 8) and to
the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 9) for the respective positions of
appellant and the examiner regarding the merits of these
rejections.
Opinion
Before considering the merits of the standing rejections, we
must determine the scope of the claims, and in particular, the
“visible indicia” limitations of the claims. Consistent with
appellant’s specification (page 4, lines 3-15) and arguments
(brief, page 12, lines 5-29), we interpret the language “visible
indicia so as to identify a sports team” appearing in claim 1 to
1It also appears that the standing rejections are based, at
least in part, on the examiner’s taking of Official Notice “that
it is well known that teams and players have specific team colors
which represent a sports team/players” (answer, page 4).
2
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