Appeal No. 1998-2924
Application NO. 08/276,290
Brief, Appellants group together claims 3-9, 11, 24, 25 and
28. Then, in Argument, Appellants argue claims 3, 7, 11, and
25 together and claim 5 separately. Rule 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7)
sets forth the requirements for claim grouping. It states:
Grouping of claims. For each ground of rejection
which appellant contests and which applies to a
group of two or more claims, the Board shall select
a single claim from the group and shall decide the
appeal as to the ground of rejection on the basis of
that claim alone unless a statement is included that
the claims of the group do not stand or fall
together and, in the argument under paragraph (c)(8)
of this section, appellant explains why the claims
of the group are believed to be separately
patentable. Merely pointing out differences in what
the claims cover is not an argument as to why the
claims are separately patentable.
July 1, 1996, as amended at 60 Fed. Reg. 14518 (March 17,
1995).
Based on this Rule, we treat claims 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 24,
25 and 28 as standing or falling together and select claim 3
as the representative claim of this group. We treat claims 5
and 9 separately.
Turning now to Appellants' arguments, we focus first on
the arguments related to claim 3.
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