Appeal No. 2004-0697
Application No. 09/950,535
Claims 13, 14 and 16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as being unpatentable over Messier in view of Smith and Griffith.
Attention is directed to the brief (Paper No. 11) and answer
(Paper No. 12) for the respective positions of the appellant and
examiner regarding the merits of these rejections.
DISCUSSION
Messier, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses a
combination picnic table and wagon comprising a main casing 10,
castors 17 attached to the bottom 16 of the casing, extension
leaves 23 and 24 hinged to the top of the casing for defining,
with the upper surface of the casing, a table top, legs 31 hinged
to the bottom corners of the casing for supporting the casing in
an elevated position, a pull handle 36 hinged to a bracket 35
mounted on the bottom of the casing, and a clip on the front of
the casing for holding the pull handle in an adjacent stowed
position.
The examiner concedes (see page 3 in the answer) that
Messier’s table/wagon combination does not respond to the
limitations in independent claim 12 requiring (1) a means for
pivotably attaching the handle to the table which allows the
handle to rotate more than 180° to an inoperative position
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007