Appeal No. 2003-1725
Application No. 09/357,645 Page 17
configuration shown in Fig. 1, releasing this force unbends the
spring plate and thus closes the valve as shown in Fig. 2.” See
page 8 of the answer.
As correctly pointed out by appellants (reply brief, page
14), “Payne applies a force to straighten the occluding member to
occlude the collapsible tube and this same force is released to
relax the occluding member to open the tube.” We refer the
examiner to column 1, lines 51-56 and column 2, line 65 through
column 3, line 13 of Payne.
As for apparatus claims 17-19, we note that the examiner has
not separately addressed those claims in the answer. In this
regard, we note that each of the apparatus claims 17-19 require
“a force actuator constructed and positioned to apply a force to
the occluding member to bend the occluding member from an
occluding configuration to an open configuration” (claim 17).
The examiner has not established that the force actuator (20) of
Payne is constructed and configured in such a fashion.
Thus, we reverse the examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of claims
12-19, on this record.
Claims 20, 21 and 28
Each of claims 20 and 21 (Group VIII) require an occluder
including an occluding member having a substantially linear
Page: Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007