Ex Parte STICKLES et al - Page 9




             Appeal No. 2001-0299                                                                     9               
             Application No. 08/993,861                                                                               


             803 F.2d at 708, 231 USPQ at 642-43.  See also Hindersinn, 177 USPQ at 80; Harvey,                       
             163 USPQ at 573; Cooper, 154 F.3d at 1331, 47 USPQ2d at 1904.                                            
                    Appellants’ complaint (request, page 12) that the Board “has failed to afford due                 
             weight to the means 24 for injecting fuel element expressly recited in apparatus claim                   
             11" is entirely unfounded.  As pointed out supra, the statement on page 12 of our                        
             decision that “this recitation in claim 1 does not positively call for a fuel injection nozzle”          
             (emphasis added) has never been applied to claim 11.  Further, as pointed out above                      
             with regard to claim 7, Koch discloses a fuel nozzle 27 for injecting fuel into an                       
             upstream end of the swirl cup.                                                                           
                    Appellants (request, page 11) also urge that “[t]he Board’s cursory review of                     
             means-plus-function claim 11 is not only erroneous, but fails to recognize the                           
             examiner’s complete failure in para. 4 of the final rejection to establish any basis for the             
             rejection thereof.”  We recognize that the burden of proof is on the examiner, not                       
             appellants, in supporting a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102 (see page 11 of appellants’                  
             request).  However, in appealing a rejection, appellants bear the burden and                             
             responsibility of perfecting an argument traversing the rejection in accordance with the                 
             requirements set forth in 37 CFR §§ 1.191 and 192.  Specifically, as set forth in 37 CFR                 
             § 1.192(a), “[a]ny arguments or authorities not included in the brief will be refused                    
             consideration by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences unless good cause is                      
             shown.”  Further, 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(8)(C)(iii) requires that, for each rejection under 35                
             U.S.C. § 102, “the argument shall specify the errors in the rejection and why the                        






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