Appeal No. 2003-1200
Application No. 09/319,142
OPINION
We will sustain these rejections for the reasons well stated
by the examiner in the answer. We add the following comments for
emphasis only.
It is the appellants’ basic contention that the applied
references contain no teaching or suggestion of the here claimed
plate-shaped support having a surface with a plurality of
pyramid-shaped depressions. The appellants argue that, as a
consequence of this deficiency, even if the references were
combined, the resulting gemstone would not correspond to the
gemstone defined by the independent claim on appeal.
In our view, the recesses 35 shown in Figs. 10-12 of Gregory
are encompassed by the claim 16 phrase “pyramid-shaped
depressions.” This is because the shape of these recesses
includes the rectangular base and triangular tapering sides of a
pyramid (i.e., a pyramid inverted so that the base faces upwardly
as in the appellants’ invention). We recognize that the “apex”
of Gregory’s recesses is flat rather than pointed as shown in the
appellants’ drawing. This fact, however, does not forestall a
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