Interference No. 104,833
Page No. 8
(v) which, when bonded to a substrate, can be released from said substrate by
pulling on the adhesive film strip in the direction of the plane of the bond formed
between said adhesive film strip and said substrate; and
b) a plurality of hook or loop fasteners adhered to one side of said adhesive film strip
in such a way that said hook or loop fasteners are ftee to be fastened to mating loop or
hook fasteners.
The issue before us is whether the Bries specification properly and effectively
incorporates by reference the description of the underlined ratio from the Kreckel '581 patent3.
Incorporation by reference is a question of law. As stated in Advanced Divlay Systems, Inc. v.
Kent State University, 54 USPQ2d 1673, 1679 (Fed. Cir. 2000):
To incorporate material by reference, the host document must identify with
detailed particularity what specific material it incorporates and clearly indicate
where that material is found in the various [referenced] documents. [Citations
omitted.]
In Bries' specification, the statement of incorporation of the Kreckel '581 patent is as
follows:
Suitable plastic backing materials are disclosed in U.S. Patent nos.
5,516,581 and 5,672,402 to Kreckel et at and in co-pending U.S. Patent
application serial number 08/308,937 (Bries et al.), each of which are commonly
owned by the Assignee of the present application, and the complete disclosures of
which are incorporated by reference. (Ex. 1009 at 25, lines 16-20).
The portion of the Kreckel '581 patent that allegedly provides support for the claimed
ratio is in the background section of the Kreckel patent and is in reference to a German document
as follows:
German (OS) 3331 016 Al discloses another adhesive tape for removable adhesive
bonds, whereby the tape exhibits high elasticity and low plasticity. The adhesive strength
U.S. Patent 5,516,581 (Ex. 2005).
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