Appeal No. 2004-0825
Application 09/954,786
well as to the final Office action and answer for a complete
exposition thereof.
OPINION
We will sustain each of these rejections for the
reasons expressed by the examiner and for the reasons set forth
below.
In assessing the § 102 rejections before us, we
recognize that anticipation is a question of fact, that the
record must contain substantial evidence to support anticipation
findings and that, during examination proceedings, claims are to
be given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with
the specification. In re Hyatt, 211 F.3d 1367, 1372, 54 USPQ2d
1664, 1667 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
Our application of these principles to the § 102
rejection based on the Brown patent leads us to agree with the
examiner’s finding that the patent as a whole discloses lead-free
fishing devices including sinkers made of 100% bismuth (i.e.,
bismuth in a non-alloyed condition) or bismuth alloyed with
another non-toxic metal such as tin, antimony or zinc (e.g., see
4
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