Appeal No. 2001-2166
Application 09/275,965
support member will break through the slot. Representative claim
1 reads as follows:
1. A wall panel system comprising:
a wall panel including a base member;
at least one horizontal slot within said base member, said
slot being formed by an upper surface, a lower surface, and a
rear surface, said slot also having an opening; and
a support member adapted to fit within said slot so that
said support member exerts pressure against both of said upper
and lower surfaces of said slot.
THE REJECTION
Claims 1 through 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)
as being anticipated by U.S. Patent No. 5,109,993 to Hutchison.
Attention is directed to the appellant’s brief (Paper No.
10) and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 11) for the
respective positions of the appellant and the examiner with
regard to the merits of this rejection.
DISCUSSION
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under principles of inherency,
each and every element of a claimed invention. RCA Corp. v.
Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ
385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). It is not necessary that the
reference teach what the subject application teaches, but only
that the claim read on something disclosed in the reference,
2
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