Appeal No. 2003-0881 Page 2
Application No. 09/658,561
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to base plates for mounting a tow bar to tow
hooks of a towed vehicle (specification, p. 1). A copy of the claims under appeal is set
forth in the appendix to the appellants' brief.
Claims 1 to 3, 5 to 15, 17 to 21 and 24 to 26 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent No. 5,755,4541 to Peterson.
Claim 4 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Peterson.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and
the appellants regarding the above-noted rejections, we make reference to the answer
(Paper No. 14, mailed December 3, 2002) for the examiner's complete reasoning in
support of the rejections, and to the brief for the appellants' arguments thereagainst.2
1 Issued May 26, 1998.
2 The appellants' reply brief (Paper No. 18, filed March 3, 2003) was not timely filed (see Paper
No. 20, mailed April 28, 2003) and will not be considered.
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