Appeal No. 2001-1848
Application 08/932,988
the specification. Instead, the claimed light bands are
described in the specification as the “spacings” or simply “the
spacing” between the spaced apart bands 38 (see for example,
page 3, lines 34-35).
A copy of claim 1 is appended to appellant’s brief.
Claim 1 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
being anticipated by the U.S. Patent No. 1,578,189 which issued
to C. A. Dawson on March 23, 1926. This rejection cannot be
sustained.
To anticipate a claim, a prior art reference must disclose
every limitation of the claimed invention, either explicitly or
inherently. In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477, 44 USPQ2d
1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997). It follows that the absence from
the reference of any element of the claim negates anticipation
of that claim by the reference. Kloster Speedsteel AB v.
Crucible, Inc., 793 F.2d 1565, 1571, 230 USPQ 81, 84 (Fed. Cir.
1986), cert denied, 479 U.S. 1034 (1987).
The Dawson patent discloses a fly-fishing line 5 that is
attached at its distal end to a leader 1. This patent
admittedly discloses alternating light and dark colored band
sections 2, 3. However, contrary to the examiner’s remarks on
page 6 of the answer, these light and dark band sections, as
pointed out by appellant on pages 4-5 of the reply brief and
3
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