Appeal No. 2004-0563
Application No. 09/975,747
application, the examiner should consider whether this patent anticipates or would
have rendered appellant’s claimed tampon obvious within the meaning of 35 U.S.C.
§ 103. We particularly direct attention to the embodiments seen in Figures 6, 7, 14
and 16 of this patent, noting that the softwind (22) can have a length (L2) of up to 10
inches (col. 5, lines 46-47), and the disclosure in column 7, lines 3-6, that the
withdrawal string should have a length which “extends outwardly from the softwind 22
a distance of from between about 2 inches to about 8 inches,” thereby apparently
putting the overall length of the withdrawal sting of Balzar’s tampon from the tampon
cleft (42) to the free ends thereof within appellant’s claimed range of 9-13 inches.
The decision of the examiner rejecting claims 20 and 22 of the present
application is affirmed.
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