Appeal No. 2002-0572 Page 3
Application No. 09/302,584
the non-polarized keyway arranged to align the first and second pluralities of conductive
pads with contacts in a second connector.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of obviousness are:
Goshorn 3,491,267 Jan. 20, 1970
Andrews, Jr. (Andrews) 4,869,672 Sep. 26, 1989
Claims 11-16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Goshorn in view of Andrews.2
Reference is made to appellants’ main and reply briefs (Paper Nos. 13 and 16)
and to the examiner’s answer (Paper No. 14) for the respective positions of appellants
and the examiner regarding the merits of this rejection.
Discussion
At the outset, we note that appellants’ main brief states on page 6 that the
rejected claims stand or fall together. Therefore, in accordance with 37 CFR
§ 1.192(c)(7), we have selected claim 11, the sole independent claim on appeal, as the
representative claim to decide this appeal, with claims 12-16 standing or falling
therewith.
Goshorn, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses (see Figure 1) a printed
circuit board 10 comprising a connective edge 16 having first and second connective
regions separated by a centrally located notch. The connective edge also includes
2The rejection of claims 21-26 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, made in the office
action dated May 14, 2001 (Paper No. 12) has been expressly withdrawn by the examiner (see page 2 of
the answer). In addition, it is clear from the context of the answer that the 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of
claims 21-26 made in the office action dated May 14, 2001 has also been withdrawn.
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