Appeal No. 2002-1671 Page 8
Application No. 08/993,985
not teach a stent (i.e., the bioabsorbable structural support) bonded to a graft as set
forth in claim. Moreover, the examiner has not made any determination that it would
have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person of ordinary skill in
the art to have modified Kawai's bioabsorbable stent to be bonded to the graft as
recited in claim 1. In addition, the self-expandable limitation of claim 1 is not met by
Kawai for the reasons set forth above with respect to claim 56. Accordingly, the
examiner has not established a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to claim 1
since the examiner has not found that it would have been obvious to to an artisan at the
time the invention was made to have modified Kawai's stent to arrive at the claimed
invention. Accordingly, the decision of the examiner to reject claim 1 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai in view of Fontaine is reversed.
Claims 2 to 4, 6, 8 to 16, 19 to 21, 36, 37, 39 to 49, 51 to 55, 57 to 62 and 64 to 67
The decision of the examiner to reject dependent claims 2 to 4, 6, 8 to 16, 19 to
21, 36, 37, 39 to 49, 51 to 55, 57 to 62 and 64 to 67 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Kawai in view of Fontaine is also reversed for the reasons provided
above with respect to their respective independent claims (i.e., claims 1, 56 and 63).
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