Appeal No. 1998-0318 Page 2
Application No. 08/539,466
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to a method of sampling micro-volumes of fluid
from a micro-sample tube. An understanding of the invention can be derived from a
reading of exemplary claim 23, which appears in the appendix to the appellants’ Brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims are:
Charlton et al. (Charlton) 4,106,907 Aug. 15, 1978
Hulette et al. (Hulette) 5,236,666 Aug. 17, 1993
Cathcart et al. (Cathcart) 5,443,791 Aug. 22, 1995
Cole-Parmer Instrument Company catalog 1993-1994, pages 1409-1411 (Cole-Parmer).
Claims 25 and 40-57 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as
containing subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to
reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventors, at the time the
application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 23-39 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Hulette in view of Charlton and Cole-Parmer.1
Claims 40-57 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Hulette in view of Charlton, Cole-Parmer and Cathcart.
1 This rejection erroneously was stated in the Supplemental Answer as being
directed to claims 23-29. However, it is clear that it should apply to claims 23-39. See
Paper No. 14.
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