Appeal No. 2001-2305
Application 08/669,674
I. On August 31, 1999, this Board rendered a decision (Paper
No. 16) in an earlier appeal (Appeal No. 99-0103) involving the
application. The decision sustained the examiner’s 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) rejection of claim 1, the sole claim pending in the
application, as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 4,760,510
to Lahti.
II. In response to the decision, the appellants ultimately
filed a request for a continued prosecution application (Paper
No. 23). The request did not include any amendment of the
application.
III. In an Office action dated August 15, 2000 (Paper No.
25), the examiner found the request for a continued prosecution
application to be acceptable, rejected claim 1 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite and under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Lahti, and made the Office
action final.1
IV. After filing what amounted to a request for
reconsideration (Paper No. 26) which the examiner viewed to be
unpersuasive (see Paper No. 27), the appellants submitted an
1 Given the inclusion of the new 35 U.S.C. § 112, second
paragraph, rejection, the finality of the Office action clearly
was premature. See MPEP §§ 706.07(a) and 706.07(b).
2
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