Ex Parte EILERS - Page 9




          Appeal No. 2003-0423                                                        
          Application No. 09/377,015                                                  

          not relieved by Kinuta’s groove before the metal surrounding the            
          groove can bend outward to form swinging doors.                             
               The examiner’s arguments require that the portions of the              
          explosion prevention safety device in Kinuta’s figure 5B outside            
          the groove inherently are capable of bending outward and forming            
          swinging doors when the battery explodes.  The grooves in                   
          Kinuta’s figures 5A and 5B may have the shown configurations,               
          rather than having a large rectangular configuration, for the               
          same reason that the appellant’s grooves have their particular              
          shape, i.e., to provide strength during normal operation while              
          providing a large, generally-rectangular opening for gas release            
          by outward bending of the portions surrounding the grooves when             
          the battery explodes (specification, page 2, lines 16-23 and                
          page 7, lines 11-14).  As indicated by the above discussion of              
          Kinuta, however, this is not a disclosed capability of Kinuta’s             
          explosion prevention safety device.  Hence, it is merely a                  
          possibility.  An inherent characteristic must be inevitable, and            
          not merely a possibility or probability.  See In re Oelrich, 666            
          F.2d 578, 581, 212 USPQ 323, 326 (CCPA 1981).                               
               The examiner relies upon Takada only for a suggestion to use           
          Kinuta’s explosion prevention safety device on a recloseable                
          container (office action mailed June 12, 2001, paper no. 6,                 

                                          9                                           





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007