Appeal No. 2000-1006
Application 08/974,148
GROUNDS OF REJECTION
Claim 12 was rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, in the Final Rejection mailed April 8, 1999, Paper
No. 19. This rejection was overcome by an amendment under
37 CFR § 1.116, received June 7, 1999, Paper No. 20. Appeal
Brief, page 2. The claims currently stand rejected as follows:
I. Claims 1-3, 11 and 12 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Jackson;
II. Claims 4 and 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as unpatentable over Jackson and further in view of
Sugihara;
III. Claims 6-82 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as unpatentable over Jackson and further in view of Wilkins; and
2 The stated rejection as it appears in both the Final Rejection
and Appeal Brief does not include claim 7 (claim 7 depends from
claim 6). However, the Final Rejection and Examiner’s Answer
both indicate that claims 1-8, inclusive, stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103. Moreover, the Appeal Brief states that “[c]laims
1-8 and 10-12 will be considered together and discussed together
in this appeal.” Further, we find no evidence of record that the
examiner indicated, or that appellant understood that claim 7 was
allowed, withdrawn from consideration, or otherwise cancelled.
Accordingly, we conclude that the examiner inadvertently omitted
claim 7 from the statement of rejection and that appellant has
not been harmed by this oversight.
3
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