Appeal No. 2004-0187 Page 4
Application No. 09/745,098
It is the examiner’s position that all of the subject matter recited in claim 1 is
anticipated1 by Leenaards. The appellants take issue with this conclusion, arguing that
Leenaards does not disclose or teach that the curved portion is adapted to be the same
shape as the mouth contour of a bottle, as is required by claim 1.
In evaluating this rejection, we first note the appellants have defined “mouth
contour” of the bottle to mean the curved portion at the mouth, as shown at 42 in Figure
2a, which comprises an upper portion 43 and a lower portion 45. Leenaards is directed
to a twist-off crown closure that utilizes a seal, and the examiner has made reference to
Figures 2 and 5, contending that the terms of the claim are met because the crown
closure has “a curved portion that is the same shape as the mouth contour of the bottle
prior to crimping” (Paper No. 8, page 4). We do not agree. There is no description in
Leenaards that supports the examiner’s conclusion and, from our perspective, neither
do the drawings. It appears to us from Figures 2-6 that the inner curve of the
Leenaards’ crown closure merely touches the outer curve of the bottle mouth over at
most a very small arc, and therefore does not meet the requirement in the claim that it
1Anticipation is established only when a single prior art reference discloses, expressly or under the
principles of inherency, each and every element of the claimed invention. See, for example, RCA Corp. v.
Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). A
reference anticipates a claim if it discloses the claimed invention such that a skilled artisan could take its
teachings in combination with his own knowledge of the particular art and be in possession of the
invention. In re Graves, 69 F.3d 1147, 1152, 36 USPQ2d 1697, 1701 (Fed. Cir. 1995), cert. denied,
116 S.Ct. 1362 (1996), quoting from In re LeGrice, 301 F.2d 929, 936, 133 USPQ 365, 372 (CCPA 1962).
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