Ex Parte ZHU - Page 5




          Appeal No. 2002-0723                                                        
          Application 08/965,637                                                      


                    Grouping of claims. For each ground of                            
                    rejection which appellant contests and which                      
                    applies to a group of two or more claims, the                     
                    Board shall select a single claim from the                        
                    group and shall decide the appeal as to the                       
                    ground of rejection on the basis of that                          
                    claim alone unless a statement is included                        
                    that the claims of the group do not stand or                      
                    fall together and, in the argument under                          
                    paragraph (c)(8) of this section, appellant                       
                    explains why the claims of the group are                          
                    believed to be separately patentable. Merely                      
                    pointing out differences in what the claims                       
                    cover is not an argument as to why the claims                     
                    are separately patentable.                                        

          We will, thereby, consider Appellant’s claims as standing or                
          falling together in the five groups noted above, and we will                
          treat:                                                                      
                    Claim 1 as a representative claim of Group I;                     
                    Claim 4 as a representative claim of Group II;                    
                    Claim 11 as a representative claim of Group III;                  
                    Claim 14 as a representative claim of Group IV; and               
                    Claim 29 as a representative claim of Group V.                    


          “If the brief fails to meet either requirement, the Board is free           
          to select a single claim from each group and to decide the appeal           
          of that rejection based solely on the selected representative               




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