Appeal No. 2004-1293
Application No. 09/989,330
Summary of Disposition of Examiner’s Rejections
In summary, we reverse the examiner’s rejections under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) of: (i) appealed claims 1 through 11, 14 through
16, 18 through 27, and 30 through 32 as unpatentable over
Gillinder; and (ii) appealed claims 12, 13, 28, and 29 as
unpatentable over Gillinder in view of DiLernia and Gates. We
affirm, however, the examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of
appealed claim 17 as unpatentable over Gillinder in view of
Satterlee.
The decision of the examiner is therefore affirmed in part.
New Grounds of Rejection
We enter the following new grounds of rejection.
A. Claims 1 through 3, 6 through 11, 16, 17, and 30 are
rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by British
patent application GB 2 059 280 A published in the name of
inventor James on Apr. 23, 1981, already of record.
James describes a filtration system for an aquarium
comprising a hollow shell 11 resting on the bottom of the
aquarium and including one or more depressions 18 filled with
gravel in which live plants may be grown. (Figure 1; page 1,
lines 116.) James further teaches that the hollow shell may be
polymeric and that the outer upper surface of the hollow shell
11
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