Appeal No. 2003-2062
Application 09/853,568
iconic labels 30 need not be pictorial, but rather may be
colored or other symbols such as a blue circle or a red
square. While these colored symbols may not immediately be
associated with a particular medicine or use, the patient
will associate the colored symbols with certain medicine or
uses much more quickly than a purely textual label.
With respect to dependent claims 2 and 18 on appeal, it is
clear from Mayfield (Figs. 4-5) that the markers/labels (22) are
disposed on an external surface of the medicine
receptacle/housing, and that the marker/label (22) is an icon
which contains no alphanumeric characters.
Appellant’s arguments in the brief (pages 6-8) do nothing to
alter our view of Mayfield as expressed above. Once educated by
repeated use of the same icon for the exact same medication for a
sufficient period of time (weeks, months or years), we are
convinced that most users would come to recognize that icon as
identifying or describing a particular medication and its uses,
etc., without reference to another source. Likewise, after such
repeated use, the icon itself becomes descriptive of the
medication because of the mental association a long term user
makes regarding the particular medication that icon represents.
5
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