Appeal No. 2004-0933
Application 09/256,680
We refer to the final rejection (Paper No. 10) (pages
referred to as "FR__") and the examiner's answer (Paper No. 15)
for a statement of the examiner's rejection, and to the appeal
brief (Paper No. 14) (pages referred to as "Br__") and reply
brief (Paper No. 16) (pages referred to as "RBr__") for a
statement of appellants' arguments thereagainst.
OPINION
The examiner errs in stating the claims stand or fall together
Appellants identify the following groups of claims, where
the claims within each group stand or fall together (Br3):
Group I - claims 1-3, 6-9, 12-17, 20, and 21
Group II - claims 4, 10, and 18
Group III - claims 5, 11, and 19
The examiner states that claims 1-21 stand or fall together
because appellants' brief does not include a statement that this
grouping of claims does not stand or fall together (EA2) and that
appellants have elected to rely on the discussion of claim 1 to
contend that claims 2-21 are patentable (EA6). This is error.
As noted by appellants (RBr1-2), appellants have expressly
grouped the claims into three groups and have made arguments why
the claims in each group are separately patentable. However,
since we reverse the rejection of the independent claims in
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