Appeal No. 2001-0271 Page 10
Application No. 08/855,474
matches the thickness of a compact disk 10. The compact disk
10 is snugly nested in a circular opening 19 die cut in the
face panel 18 to create a well (col. 3, lines 47-64).
As we see it, Spector meets the limitations of claim 15
as follows. Either of the panels 15, 16 provides a
continuously flat surface for supporting a computer mouse and
the circular opening 19 is an aperture for receiving a
computer disk therewithin, the aperture having a height
substantially equal to the thickness of the computer disk, by
virtue of the thickness of the face panel 18 matching the
thickness of the compact disk 10. Moreover, Spector's
cardboard album is a "pad" as broadly recited in claim 15.6
Turning finally to the examiner's rejection of claims 15-
21 as being unpatentable over House in view of Zielinski and
Spector, the examiner acknowledges that neither House nor
Zielinski teaches or suggests the provision of a compact disk
in the mouse pad of House (answer, p. 6). Unlike the
examiner, we find no suggestion in Spector’s compact disk
A "pad" is a thin flat mat or cushion (Webster's New Collegiate6
Dictionary (Merriam-Webster 1977)).
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