Appeal No. 2003-0161
Application No. 09/578,575
Hotta’s cooling container functions by absorbing heat from the
food or beverage items, through a wall which can be made of
synthetic resin, into frozen water (col. 2, lines 59-65). As
mentioned above, a synthetic resin can be thermoplastic, and
Hotta’s water differs from the appellants’ saline solution only
in that the saline solution contains a small amount, i.e.,
about 2%, of salt (specification, page 6, lines 11-12). Thus,
Hotta would have fairly suggested, to one of ordinary skill in
the art, a cooling container which cools and maintains the food
or beverage items at a chilled temperature in substantially the
same way as the appellants’ freezer panels.
Due to the above-discussed similarity in the positioning and
materials of the appellants’ freezer panels and Hotta’s cooling
container, they produce substantially the same result with
respect to cooling and maintaining the food or beverage items at
a chilled temperature.
Claim 19: The appellants’ claim 19, which depends from
claim 18, requires “means for insulating the holding means”. The
corresponding structure in the appellants’ specification is
insulating material such as polystyrene placed in an annular wall
space of the chilled item server (specification, page 5, line 6 -
page 6, line 2). Hotta’s means for holding the crates of milk,
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