Appeal No. 2001-0210 Page 5
Application No. 08/560,675
Hoffman discloses a desk having a system of ducts through which wires and the like
can be run. The Hoffman desk comprises a pair of opposed side frames 2 and 3 (Figure
1) which appear to be interconnected by a pair of beams (unnumbered, but shown
attached to side frame 3 in Figure 4 and side frame 2 in Figure 2), a tabletop 4, and a
channel member 6. The channel member is mounted on a mechanism that allows it to be
movable between a closed position beneath the tabletop (Figure 1), through a partially
open position (Figure 2), to a fully open position spaced from the tabletop a distance
sufficient to allow wires to be inserted or removed (Figure 4). As is best shown in Figure
4, the channel member is movably connected to the side frames through connecting
means 16 and 28, with notches 37 being provided in the side frames to facilitate the
interconnection of several desks, and notches 38 to permit wires to be inserted
(translation, page 8). We do not agree with the rationale advanced by the examiner on
pages 4 and 5 of the Answer regarding the correspondence between the terminology of
claim 40 and the Hoffman structure.
There is a basic structural and operational difference between the Hoffman
arrangement and that of claim 40. The channel member in the Hoffman invention is opened
and closed by moving it with regard to the stationary work surfaces, side frames and
notches. The arrangement recited in claim 40 requires the opposite, which is that the
channel member be “fixed to each side frame in an open notch thereof” (emphasis added),
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