Appeal No. 2002-1908
Application 09/097,013
Nos. 26 and 30) for the respective positions of the appellants
and the examiner regarding the merits of these rejections.
DISCUSSION
I. The 35 U.S.C. § 102(f) rejection of claims 1 through 3, 5
through 7 and 9
35 U.S.C. § 102(f) provides that a person shall be entitled
to a patent unless “he did not himself invent the subject matter
sought to be patented.” This is a derivation provision which
prohibits one from obtaining a patent on that which is derived
from someone else whose possession of the subject matter is
inherently “prior.” OddzOn Prods., Inc. v. Just Toys, Inc., 122
F.3d 1396, 1401-02, 43 USPQ2d 1641, 1644 (Fed. Cir. 1997).
In the present situation, the appellants, Shigeki Takahashi
and Nihei Kaishita, filed the instant application in the United
States on June 15, 1998, claiming the benefit of foreign priority
with respect to Japanese applications filed respectively on June
19, 1997 and May 18, 1998. The Takahashi ‘676 patent matured
from an application filed in the United States by Shigeki
Takahashi, Nihei Kaishita and Akira Nemoto on July 1, 1999,
claiming the benefit of foreign priority with respect to Japanese
applications filed respectively on July 6, 1998 and August 27,
1998. The Takahashi ‘676 patent characterizes the component
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