Appeal No. 2001-1808
Application 08/987,487
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under principles of
inherency, each and every element of a claimed invention. RCA
Corp. v. Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444,
221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
Claim 1 recites the sequential steps of drilling a
vertical hole in the field at perimeter points and “thence”
placing a flexible elongated single strand of marking rope
with a ground anchor at one end longitudinally into each hole.
The claim also recites the further subsequent step of packing
loose material in
the hole around the rope. The method disclosed by Kuoksa
simply does not include all three of these steps. Arguably,
the disclosed use of the Kuoksa tool 15 to insert a marker 8
into the ground constitutes a drilling step as urged by the
examiner. Nonetheless, the insertion of the marker 8, which
corresponds generally to the recited marking rope, occurs
simultaneously with this drilling step, not subsequent thereto
as required by claim
1. Kuoksa provides no factual support for the examiner’s
assertion that “a pre-drilled hole is necessary” (answer, page
5
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