Appeal No. 2002-2015 Page 17
Application No. 09/232,138
reversed. The decision of the examiner to reject claims 4, 5,
12, 13, 17, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) is reversed. A New
Ground of Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) has been entered
under 37 CFR § 1.196(b) with respect to claims 6-8.
This decision contains a new ground of rejection
pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b). 37 CFR § 1.196(b) provides that,
"[a] new ground of rejection shall not be considered final for
purposes of judicial review."
37 CFR § 1.196(b) also provides that the appellant, WITHIN
TWO MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise one of
the following two options with respect to the new ground of
rejection to avoid termination of proceedings (§ 1.197(c)) as to
the rejected claims:
(1) Submit an appropriate amendment of the claims
so rejected or a showing of facts relating to the
claims so rejected, or both, and have the matter
reconsidered by the examiner, in which event the
application will be remanded to the examiner. . . .
(2) Request that the application be reheard under
§ 1.197(b) by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
upon the same record. . . .
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