Ex parte CARSON et al. - Page 3



          Appeal No. 1998-2988                                                        
          Application No. 08/502,560                                                  


                                       OPINION                                        
               We have carefully considered the claims, the applied                   
          prior art reference, and the respective positions articulated               
          by appellants and the examiner.  As a consequence of our                    
          review, we will reverse both the anticipation rejection and                 
          the obviousness rejection of claims 1 through 5, 7, and 8.                  
               Claim 1 recites, in pertinent part, "means for mounting                
          and for releasing the mounting fixture to the transfer tool in              
          a plurality of orientations."  In other words, the mounting                 
          fixture must be attached to the transfer tool such that the                 
          relative orientations between the two elements can vary.  The               
          examiner asserts (Answer, page 3) that the two prongs onto                  
          which the mounting band of QWIK-STIK fits "allow for mounting               
          and releasing the fixture to the transfer tool in any                       
          orientation only limited by the degree to which the transfer                
          tool may be angled within a manhole."  However, in the                      
          drawings of the advertisement the two prongs appear to be                   
          maintained at an angle of ninety degrees with respect to the                
          pole sections (the transfer tool), and the text adds no                     
          further description of the relative orientations of the pole                
          and the prongs or the mounting band.  It is mere speculation                

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