Appeal No. 2004-1571
Application 10/116,027
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under principles of inherency,
each and every element of a claimed invention. RCA Corp. v.
Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ
385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). It is not necessary that the
reference teach what the subject application teaches, but only
that the claim read on something disclosed in the reference,
i.e., that all of the limitations in the claim be found in or
fully met by the reference. Kalman v. Kimberly Clark Corp., 713
F.2d 760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied,
465 U.S. 1026 (1984).
The examiner considers the limitations in claim 1 to be
fully met by the combination of Eggert’s main floor panel 20 and
front seat base 74, with the front seat base 74 constituting a
“protrusion portion” as recited in the claim. The appellant
counters that because Eggert’s front seat base 74 and main floor
panel 20 are separate elements which are secured together, the
front seat base is not part of the floor panel. In response to
the examiner’s observation that claim 1 does not require the
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