Appeal No. 2001-1946 Page 3
Application No. 08/874,463
The Prior Art Reference
In rejecting the appealed claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), the examiner relies
on the following prior art reference:
Michelotti et al. (Michelotti) 5,304,572 Apr. 19, 1994
The Issue
The issue presented for review is whether the examiner erred in rejecting claims
1 through 4 and 8 through 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Michelotti.
Deliberations
Our deliberations in this matter have included evaluation and review of the
following materials: (1) the instant specification, including all of the claims on appeal;
(2) applicants' Appeal Brief (Paper No. 10) and the review article attached to the brief;
(3) the Examiner's Answer (Paper No. 11) and the first Office action mailed January 2,
1998 (Paper No. 3); and (4) the above-cited prior art reference.
On consideration of the record, including the above-listed materials, we reverse
the examiner's rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a).
Discussion
In the Examiner's Answer (Paper No. 11), at the bottom of page 3, the examiner
states that "[c]laims 1-4 and 8-10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Michelotti (U.S. Patent no. 5,304,572)." The examiner, however,
does not communicate the basis for this rejection in the Answer. Nor does the
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