Appeal No. 2002-2184
Application No. 08/406,297
stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing
to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards
as the invention. Claims 67 and 68 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by Yasuhara. Claim 1 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Gordon, III in view of Hawley. Claims 2-8 and 10 stand rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Gordon, III in view of Tanaka.1
Claim 9 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Gordon, III
in view of Shimizu.2 Claim 22 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Gordon, III in view of Baker.3 Claim 24 stands rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Gordon, III in view of Komai. Claim 71 stands
rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Yasuhara in view of
Hubbard.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and
appellants regarding the above-noted rejections, we make reference to the examiner's
answer (Paper No. 44, mailed May 2, 2002) for the examiner's reasoning in support of
1While the examiner has not recited the reliance upon Hawley in the rejection of the claims
dependent on claim 1, we interpret the rejections to also include a reliance thereon.
2 We note that the examiner has not included Tanaka in the statement of the rejection, but we
interpret the rejections including Tanaka due to its dependency on claim 8.
3 We do not find that the examiner has set forth a rejection of dependent claim 23. The examiner
indicated at page 7 of the final rejection that claim 23 is objected to and would be allowed if rewritten. This
objection to claim 23 is unclear since it has been rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112. Therefore, we will not
address this claim with respect to a prior art rejection, but will address it under 35 U.S.C. § 112.
3
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