Appeal No. 2003-2036 Page 2
Application No. 09/961,198
BACKGROUND
The appellants' invention relates to an apparatus and method for applying
surgical fasteners, and in one particular aspect to such an apparatus and method for
driving rivets to secure cranial plates (specification, p. 1). A copy of the claims under
appeal is set forth in the appendix to the appellants' brief.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims are:
Torrie et al. (Torrie) 5,667,513 Sept. 16, 1997
DiPoto et al. (DiPoto) 5,957,953 Sept. 28, 1999
Claims 1,2 and 4 to 9 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Torrie in view of DiPoto.
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and
the appellants regarding the above-noted rejection, we make reference to the final
rejection (Paper No. 9, mailed October 16, 2002) and the answer (Paper No. 12, mailed
May 5, 2003) for the examiner's complete reasoning in support of the rejection, and to
the brief (Paper No. 11, filed April 1, 2003) for the appellants' arguments thereagainst.
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