Interference No. 104,649
Page No. 23
B. Zhou Preliminary Motion I Fails to Demonstrate that Keagy's Corresponding
Claims are Anticipated or Rendered Obvious by the Prior Art
Zhou Preliminary Motion 1 requests judgment that Keagy's corresponding claims be held
unpatentable as either being anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102 or rendered unpatentable under 35
U.S.C. § 103, in view of the prior art. (Zhou Preliminary Motion 1, Paper No. 24, p. 1). In
particular, Zhou argues that Chen et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,448,649 ("Chen '649") anticipates
Keagy's corresponding claims. Additionally, Zhou argues that Keagy's corresponding claims are
obvious over Sibbald, U.S. Patent No. 5,619,586 ("Sibbald '586") in view of Cobb, Jr., U.S.
Patent No. 4,906,070 ("Cobb '070") as well as Elmes et al., U.S. Patent No. 4,455,083 ("Elmes
'083") and Usui et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,210,796 ("Usui '796"). These grounds of rejection are
discussed below.
I . Chen '649 Is Not "Prior Art" to Keagy's Corresponding Claims
As noted by Zhou, Keagy's involved '744 application was filed as a continuation of its
earlier '418 application, which itself is a continuation of Keagy's earlier '098 application filed on
September 16, 1994. (Paper No. 24, p. 2, 111-2). Chen '649 issued from an application filed on
May 24, 1994. (ZX 2008, front page). Accordingly, on its face, Chen '649 is available as prior
art under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).
During the prosecution of Keagy's '098 application, the examiner rejected some of
Keagy's pending claims as obvious over Chen '649. (ZX 2004, Office Action of 11/29/95, p. 9).
In response to the rejection over Chen, Keagy filed several declarations under 37 CFR § 1. 131 in
an effort to overcome the Chen reference. According to Zhou, however, these declarations are
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