Appeal No. 1999-0713
Application 08/325,629
and of claims 10 and 13 which stand or fall therewith, as
being unpatentable over Puno in view of Partridge.
IV. Group III - claim 9
Claim 9 depends from claim 15 and recites that the
anchoring element, head section and longitudinal support piece
are titanium and the fastening element is resorbable plastic.
In rejecting this claim (see pages 5 and 6 in the main answer
and pages 5 through 7 in the supplemental answer), the
examiner concludes that these features would have been obvious
in view of (1) the well known orthopaedic utilization of
titanium and (2) the teachings of Eitenmuller with respect to
resorbable plastics. The appellant challenges the rejection
only to the extent the examiner relies on Eitenmuller (see
pages 10 and 11 in the reply brief).
Eitenmuller evidences the conventional practice of making
surgical implants from bio-resorbable polymers. The advantage
of this practice is that such polymers eventually will break
down
into substances naturally occurring in the body and be
expelled with the metabolic circulation, thereby eliminating
9
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