Appeal No. 1999-0843
Application No. 08/666,970
is established only when a single prior art reference
discloses, expressly or under the principles of inherency,
each and every element of a claimed invention as well as
disclosing structure which is capable of performing the
recited functional limitations. RCA Corp. v. Applied Digital
Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed.
Cir.), cert. dismissed, 468 U.S. 1228 (1984); W.L. Gore &
Assocs. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1554, 220 USPQ 303,
313 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
With respect to representative independent claim 1, the
Examiner has indicated (Answer, pages 3 and 4) how the various
limitations of claim 1 are read on the admitted prior art. In
the Examiner’s analysis, a 90 degree rotation of the admitted
prior art semiconductor device structure illustrated in
Appellant’s Figure 1 would result in a device in which at
least
one electrode (i.e., the D electrode) has a second contact
area disposed laterally opposite a first contact area across a
finger (i.e., the center finger) section as claimed.
We agree with the Examiner that semiconductor devices in
actual practice can be fabricated and used in any orientation
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