Appeal No. 2004-1540
Application 10/036,498
It is well settled that in making out a prima facie case of anticipation, each and every
element of the claimed invention, arranged as required by the claims, must be found in a single
prior art reference, either expressly or under the principles of inherency. See generally,
In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 1326, 231 USPQ 136, 138 (Fed. Cir. 1986); Lindemann
Maschinenfabrik v. American Hoist and Derrick, 730 F.2d 1452, 1458, 221 USPQ 481, 485
(Fed. Cir. 1984).
We agree with the analysis of the claimed fastener encompassed by appealed claim 14
and of Huber ‘044 submitted by appellants in the brief, and thus find that as a matter of fact,
Huber ‘044 does not anticipate the appealed claims within the meaning of §§ 102(a) and 102(e).
We add the following for emphasis.
We find that, when considered in light of the written description in the specification,
including the drawings, as interpreted by one of ordinary skill in this art, see, e.g., In re Morris,
127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319,
321-22, 13 USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989), the plain language of appealed claim 1
specifies that each of the three engaging screw threads project in a direction away from the
surface where it is formed, that is, project above such surface, and that the first of the three screw
threads must engage each of the other two screw threads.
We find that one skilled in this art would have recognized from a comparison of screw
threads 13 and 20 of expansion member 3 of the fastener of Huber’ 044 as provided by Huber
‘044 Figs. 12 and 13, that the screw threads 20 project in a direction away from, that is, above,
the surface where it is formed while screw threads 13 project inward from, that is, below, the
surface. On this basis, and in view of the comparison in Huber ‘044 Figs. 12 and 13, it is further
apparent that screw threads 13 would slide over rather than engage screw threads 19 of
expansion sleeve 2. Indeed, in contrast to the engaging screw threads 19, and 20, angled portion
16' of expansion sleeve 2 engages screws 13 at an angle, as shown by Huber ‘044 Fig. 12 and
13.
matured from the priority document cited in Huber ‘044. We observe that the examiner has
supplied a translation of Huber ‘286 prepared for the USPTO by FLS, Inc., May 2004.
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