Appeal No. 2003-1568 Page 2
Application No. 09/516,603
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates generally to jaw-type surgical instruments
(specification, p. 1). A copy of the claims under appeal is set forth in the appendix to
the appellants' brief.
Claims 1, 8, 17, 25 to 32 and 34 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
being anticipated by U.S. Patent No. 4,978,0492 to Green.
Claims 9 and 16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable
over Green.
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. 23, mailed October 1, 2002) for the examiner's complete reasoning in
support of the rejections, and to the brief (Paper No. 21, filed August 19, 2002) and
reply brief (Paper No. 24, filed December 9, 2002) for the appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
2 Issued December 18, 1990.
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